o > 




7 * ^ O^ 






o 



'bV^ 



t/-' 






• 


^'^"'^^ *' 


^^^^'^/' 
'»,-.* 


,^ -^ 




:MK/>k\ ^^..'i 






^.c 



)/■ 



^^1i w 




'nE¥-YORK: 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



OF THE 



'Pftropfttaii Citg of l^merira. 



■V 



BY A NEW-YORKER. 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 

200 MULBERRY-STREET. 

1853. 



'/r 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, 
BY CAELTON & PHILLIP.S, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
of New-York. 



PREFACE. 



The growing magnitude and increased accessibility of the 
city of New- York, are constantly making that city more and 
more a subject of interest in every part of the country. At 
the same time, and by the operation of the same causes, its 
history is becoming less and less familiar to the multitudes 
that make up its vast population. It is gratifying, however, 
to be assured that the materials of the city's history are not 
likely to perish. During the past half-century many indi- 
viduals have manifested a praiseworthy regard for this sub- 
ject, and have done much to collect and preserve the perish- 
able materials of our city's local history. But especial honor, 
in this respect, is due to the New- York Historical Society, by 
the indefatigable industry and liberal enthusiasm of whose 
members many a buried relic has been exhumed, and many 
a fading reminiscence revived, and embalmed in imperishable 
records. So much has been accomphshed in that direction, 
and the whole matter is now in such able hands, and in the 
care of such zealous spirits, that the future renown of our 
metropolis may be accounted beyond danger. 

It still appeared, however, to the author of the following 
pages, that there was a want of a more popular history of our 
city than any we have hitherto possessed. The details of 
the city's local history appeared to him to be too much scat- 
tered and mixed with more general historical matter, where, 
from the necessity of the case, they are only briefly and inci- 
dentally stated. As the result of this state of things, the 



6 PREFACE 

facts of the city's history, as distinguished from that of the 
state or nation, are very imperfectly known to ordinary read- 
ers, even in the city itself. To bring the subject within the 
reach of all, is the design of this work. 

It makes no pretensions to originahty, nor yet to deep and 
thorough research. These were considered to be incom- 
patible with the writer's design. It would have been an 
easy matter to have swelled the work to ten times its pres- 
ent volume; but in so doing the design for which it was 
written would have been defeated. In the historical portion 
the purpose has been to collect and detail the principal events 
of the local history of the city down to the beginning of the 
present century, — omitting, as far as possible, all matters of 
general history in which the city was not directly and indi- 
vidually concerned. The history of the past half-century is 
purposely made very brief and general. The events of this 
period are still fresh in the memories of the present genera- 
tion, and the whole needs the mellowing influence of time to 
prepare it for the use of the historian. The descriptive por- 
tion was found much more diflficult than the historical. In 
constructing it the question was perpetually recumng, what 
shall be inserted, and what omitted ? and how may the requi- 
site particularity be effected without sacrificing the not less 
necessary sprightliness and comprehensive generality ? The 
author has in this matter done what he could, and probably 
he is as little satisfied with what he has been able to do as 
any of his intelligent readers will be. No doubt many will 
complain because of the omission of important matters ; and 
quite as many, and often the same persons, will weary with 
the rehearsal of (to them) uninteresting details. These diffi- 
culties are believed to be unavoidable, and the writer has 
hoped for nothing more than to reduce them to their mini- 
mum proportions. As to how far he has succeeded, the 
reader will judge. 

It has been an especial design to present the work entirely 



PREFACE. 7 

fi'ee from the influence of favor for any sects, parties, or per- 
sons. The stand-point of the writer is that of an American 
and a Christian ; and doubtless what he has written will suffi- 
ciently attest that his position has had some influence over 
his writing. He would be very sorry to be compelled to 
believe that such is not the case. Further than this he has 
the feelings and sentiments of a New-Yorker, — " one to the 
manor born ;" and he does not hesitate to confess that he 
has written under the influence of that instinct of human 
nature by virtue of which every man sees and appreciates 
the excellences of his own country, city, or neighborhood. 
If this be a fault in a writer, it is no discredit to a man. 

The writer would gladly acknowledge the sources from 
which his materials have been drawn, were it possible for 
him to do so. But these are so various, and often sa far 
from being original in the places whence he obtained them, 
— and not unfi-equently the same matter is found in several 
independent works, — that the thing is given up as impossible. 
If any one shall suspect that Jiis productions have been drawn 
upon, the probability of the correctness of the suspicion will 
not be denied ; but it will be well, if such an one is inclined 
to complain, for him first to make himself certain that the 
purloined treasure was really his own, and that the proof of 
the theft shall not involve himself in the same ofi"ense, by 
disclosing an earlier authority, from which both were taken. 
The chapter on Education was gathered, principally, in de- 
tached pieces, from the reports of the Boards of Education in 
the city. A proper and satisfactory exhibition of the history 
of the schools of the city is still a desideratum. The chap- 
ter on " The People of New- York " appeared originally in the 
Knickerbocker Magazine for July, 1852, and of its excellences, 
however inconsiderable, the author claims the ownership, 
while he alone is responsible for its faults and defects. The 
final chapter on the "Future of New- York" is submitted to 
the reader, to be estimated by him as it shall seem to de- 



S PREFACE. 

serve. The composition of it afforded a little amusement to 
the writer, and possibly it may contribute in the same way 
to the pleasure of the reader ; and if so it will not fail of a 
valuable result. 

As to the form and method of the work, but little needs to be 
said. The style of composition is the writer's own : it would 
have been better had he been capable of doing better ; as it 
is, it must go forth, with all its imperfections on it. In the 
distribution of the matter into chapters, the design has been 
to divide by natural joints, rather than to sever into so many 
equal portions. It is hoped that this part of the work will be 
found satisfactory. The distribution into sections has been 
made with the hope of adding to the sprightliness of the 
work, or at least of breaking the dead monotony into which 
it was feared the continuous narrative would otherwise fall. 
This arrangement, too, it is anticipated, will be favorably re- 
ceived by the reader. 

The work is now submitted to the public, of whose candor 
the writer has had many occasions to think favorably, and 
to whom he therefore, without trepidation, commits this pro- 
duction, which goes forth relying solely upon its own inher- 
ent qualities for that favorable reception, but for the hope of 
which books would not be published. Of its intrinsic excel- 
lence it does not become him to speak confidently — and sus- 
pecting it may need the favor of its critics, he hopes by 
modesty to secure whatever he fails to achieve by merit. 

THE AUTHOR. 
Nkw-York, December, 1852. 



CONTENTS, 



• I.— DISCOVERY AM) EARLY OCCUPATION. 

§ 1. A strange sight.— § 2. Hudson and "the Crescent."— § 3. Explorations. — 
§ 4. Hudson's an original discovery. — § 5. Aspects. — § 6. Inhabitants. — 
§ 7. Bay and en\irons. — § 8. Lower Bay and the Narrows. — § 9. New-York 
Harbor.— § 10. East Eiver and Hurlgate.— § 11. Harlem River.— § 12. Man- 
hattan Island. — § 13. Productions. — § 14. Homeward voyage. — § 15. Early 
occupation. — § 16. A trading-post. — § 17. The town, as it was.... Pages 13-29 

n.— NEW-AMSTERDAM. 

§ 18. The patroons. — § 19. The work advances. — § 20. Wouter Van Twiller. — 
§ 21. A governor in trouble.— § 22. "William Kieft.— § 23. Swedes on the Dela- 
ware. — § 24. New inducements. — § 25. Population increases. — § 26. Further 
troubles.—! 27. Indian difficulties.—! 28. A war and a peace. — § 29. Another 
war. — § 30. A reinforcement — peace. — § 31. Distress. — § 32. Stuyvesant gov- 
ernor. — § 33. State of the province. — § 34. Larger liberties. — § 35. Diplomacy. 
— § 36. Eeligious liberty.— § 37. Slaves imported. — § 38. The capture.— 
§ 39. A new name. — § 40. The town, fort, etc. — § 41. Bowling-green. — 
§ 42. " Straats " and " grafts."— § 43. Population 30-49 

m.— NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 

§ 'M. " New lords make new laws."— § 45. Boundaries— the duke's code. — 
§ 46. Lovelace governor. — § 47. New-Netherland revived, and lost. — § 48. An- 
dross governor. — § 49. State of the province. — § 50. Andross is arbitrary and 
unpopular. — § 51. Dongan governor. — § 52. New-York a royal province. — 
§ 53. Livingston's Manor. — § 54. Dongan superseded by Andross. — § 55. A 
revolution — Leisler. — § 56. Leisler acts as governor. — § 57. Is superseded. — 
§ 58. An affair of treason. — § 59. Character of Leisler. — § 60. Sloughter's ad- 
ministration.—! 61. Governor Fletcher.— § 62. Pirates— Kidd.—§ 63. Lord 
Bellemont. — § 64. Bellemont and the Leislerians 50-72 

IV.— INTERNAL AFFAIRS OP THE TOWN. 

§ 65. The city in 1677.— § 66. "Wards.—! 67. Laws and ordinances.—! 68. En, 
largement. — ! 69. Regulations of trade. — ! 70. The flour monopoly. — ! 71. Fur- 
ther extension. — ! 72. A dangerous rival. — ! 73. Progress of " Brcukelen." — 
§ 74. Sale of city lots. — ! 75. Outside localities. — ! 76. Defenses of the city. — 
§ 77. Public edifices. — ! 78. A view of the city. — ! 79. Character of the people. 
— § 80. Morals and religion. — ! 81. Another account. — ! 82. A remedy. — 
§ 83. Gov. Fletcher's efforts.-! 84. Summary view of society 73-90 

1* 



10 CONTENTS. 

v.— CONDITION AND PROGRESS— 1700-1770. 

§ 85. The city in 1700.— § 86. Composition of society.— § 87. Cornbury's admin- 
istration.— § 88. Church matters.— § 89. An epidemic— § 90. King's Farm 
given to Trinity Church.— § 91. Growth of the city.— § 92. New struts, etc.— 
§ 93. Newspapers. — § 94. The Negeo Plot. — § 95. How the panic began. — 
§ 96. Its progress. — § 97. Its plan. — § 98. Proceedings of the courts. — § 99. 
The after-view. — § 100. Proximate causes. — § 101. Primary cause. — § 102. Ed- 
ucational matters. — § 103. Increasing intelligence. — § 104. Political affairs. — 
§ 105. Enlargement of the city.— § 106. Map for 1729.— § 107. Public build- 
ings.— § 108. Aspect of the city.— § 109. Map for 1763.— §' 110. Commerce.— 
§ 111. Religious Affairs — Presbyterians.— § 112. Reformed Dutch Church. — 
§ 113. Methodists.— § 114. Embury and Webb. — § 115. First Methodist 
church.— § 116. Methodist preachers from England Pages 91-120 

VI.— NEW-YORK DURING THE HEVOLUTION. 

§ 117. First movements.— § 118. Early resistance.— § 119. The Stamp-Act. — 
§ 120. Sears and the " Sons of Liberty."— 121. Organized resistance. — § 122. 
Repeal of the Stamp-Act. — § 123. New difficulties.— § 124. Continued growth 
of the city. — § 125. A tea-party, etc. — § 126. A general congress called. — 
§ 127. First provincial congress. — § 128. A British man-of-war. — § 129. Com- 
mittee of Safety. — § 130. Plot against Washington. — § 131. Declaration of In- 
dependence. — § 132. Defenses of the city. — § 133. The inhabitants fly. — 
§ 134. Battle of Long Island. — § 135. Great fire. — § 136. American prisoners. — 
§ 137. Provost-Martial Cunningham. — § 138. Crowded prisons. — § 139. The 
" Old Sugar-House." — § 140. Churches turned into prisons. — § 141. Prison- 
ships.— § 142. Evacuation by the British 121-148 

Vn.— NEW-YORK AFTER THE WAR. 

§ 148. The city after the war.— § 144. Aspects of the town.— § 145. Remnants of 
the town. — § 146. Restoration of the churches. — § 147. Regulation of streets. 
— § 148. A supply of water. — § 149. Sumptuary ordinances. — § 150. Benevo- 
lent associations. — § 151. Financial improvement. — § 152. Population. — 
§ 153. Enlargement. — § 154. The city. — § 155. The prospective federal capi- 
tal. — § 156. Continental Congress in New-York. — § 157. The Doctors' Mob. 
— § 158. How it progressed.— § 159. How it ended.— § 160. A federal proces- 
sion.— § 161. Preparation for the federal government.— § 162. The inaugura- 
tion. — § 163. New-York the national capital 144-166 

Vm.— CONDITION AND PROGRESS— 1790-1810. 

§ 164. Further extension.— § 165. Consolidation.— § 166. Public edifices— re- 
sources.— § 167. Increase of commerce.— § 168. New churches.— § 169. The 
New-York pulpit. — § 170. Yellow-fever.— § 171. Causes of the epidemic. — 
§ 172. Beneficence.— § 173. The Manhattan Company.— § 174. Increase of 
population. — § 175. Enlargement.— § 176. Greenwich and Bowery villages.— 
§ 177. The "Collect."— § 178. Steam navigation on the " Collect."— § 179. 
Powder-house knoll.— § 180. A proposed park.— § 181. An inland basin pro- 
posed.— § 182. The "Collect" destroyed.— § 183. Great fire in Front-street.— 
§ 184. Cold winter of 1804-5.— § 185. City Hall projected.— § 186. River steam 
navigation.— § 187. Further enlargement of the city.— § 188. Increase of 
population, etc 167-188 



CONTENTS. 11 

IX.— NEW- YORK IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

189. The embargo.— § 190. Defenses projected.— § 191. Fortifications.- § 192. 
Mayoralty of De "Witt Clinton.— § 193. Fire in Chatham-street.— § 194. Wash- 
ington Market— § 195. Plan of " up-town."— § 196. War with Great Britain.— 
§ 197. Privateering. —§ 198. Naval heroes. — § 199. Exposed condition of the 
city.— § 200. Fortifications erected.— § 201. "Mustering out."— § 202. Com- 
mercial embarrassments. — § 203. Public buildings. — § 204. Improvements. — 
§ 205. Yellow-fever, (1822.)— § 206. Mayoralty of Stephen Allen.— § 207. In- 
crease of the city.— § 208. Erie Canal opened.— § 209. Cholera, (1832 and 
1834.)— § 210. Great fire of December, 1835.— § 211. Financial crisis of 1836-7. 
— § 212. Completion of the Croton Aqueduct. — § 213. Population in 1850. 

Pages 189-207 

X.— NEW-YORK AT THE PRESENT TIME. 

214. The transformation.— § 215. Extent of the city.— § 216. Streets and ave- 
nues.— § 217. Great thoroughfares.— § 218. Down-town.— § 219. The middle 
and eastern sections. — § 220. Up-town. — § 221. Civil divisions. — § 222. Pub- 
lic grounds — the Battery. — § 223. The Bowling-green, etc. — § 224. The Park, 
Hudson-square, etc. — § 225. Washington -square, etc. — § 226. Tompkins- 
square, etc. — § 227. Squares projected 208-220 

XI.— WATER-WORKS— LIGHT. 

228. Ante-revolutionary projects.— § 229. Post-revolutionary projects.— § 230. 
The Manhattan Company.— § 231. The up-town reservoir.- § 232. The Cro- 
ton project. — § 233. Sources of Croton River. — § 234. Supply and character of 
the water.— § 235. The river and lake.— § 236. The dam.— § 237. The aque- 
duct. — § 238. Its structure and dimensions. — § 239. Magnitude of the work. — 
§ 240. Illumination — primitive methods. — § 241. Gas-light. — § 242. Quality 
of the light 221-234 

Xn.— PUBLIC BUILDINGS— CHURCHES— CHARITIES. 

243. The City Hall.— § 244. Hall of Records.- § 245. The Tombs.— § 246. The 
Exchange.— § 247. The Custom-house.- § 248. Odd Fellows' Hall.— § 249. 
The Astor Library.— § 250. The Arsenal.— § 251. Trinity Church.— § 252. 
Other church edifices. — § 253. Charities of New- York. — § 254. Alms-house 
department. — § 255. New-York Hospital. — § 256. Asylum for the Insane. — 
§ 257. New-York Dispensary. — § 258. Deaf and Dumb Institution. — § 259. In- 
stitution for the Blind.— § 260. Orphan Asylum.— § 261. Leake and Watts' 
Asylum. — § 262. Colored Orphan Asylum. — § 263. Other charitable institu- 
tions. — § 264. Charitable institutions for seamen. — § 265. Religious institu- 
tions for seamen 235-255 

Xm— EDUCATION. 

266. Early destitution.— § 267. King's (Columbia) College.— § 268. Primary 
education. — §269. Educational matters after the Revolution. — § 270. Free 
schools.— § 271. The "Free-School Society."— § 272. Moral and religious in- 
struction.—! 273. The Common-School Fund.— § 274. Increase of schools. — 
§ 275. Rival schools.— § 276. State of learning.— § 277. Progress of the cause. 
— § 278. Opposition.- § 279. Ward-schools.— § 280. Corporate schools.—! 281. 
The Free Academy— its origin.— § 282. Its location, etc.— § 283. Its course of 



12 



CONTENTS. 



study.— § 284. Columbia College.—! 285. University of the city of New-York. 
— § 286. Rutgers Female Institute.—! 287. Medical schools.— § 288. Theo- 
logical schools. — § 289. Private schools. — § 290. New-York Society Library. — 
§ 291. Mercantile Library Association. — § 292. Mechanics' Associations.— 
§ 293. Learned and scientific societies. — § 294. Conclusion.... Pages 256-283 

XIV.— ENVIEONS OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 295. Suburbs of New-York— Brooklyn.— § 296. Brooklyn, continued.— § 297. 
Brooklyn, continued — the Navy-yard. — § 298. The Naval Lyceum — Hospital. 
— § 299. Brooklyn, continued— churches.— § 300. Williamsburgh.— § 301. Vil- 
lages on Manhattan Island. — § 302. West shore of the Hudson. — § 303. Forti- 
fications about New-York. — § 304. Cemeteries. — § 305. Greenwood — its loca- 
tion and extent. — § 306. Greenwood — its history and growth. — § 307. Trinity 
Church Cemetery.— § 308. Other rural cemeteries 284-299 

XV.— THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 309. Individuality of character.— § 310. Original elements.- § 311. The Wal- 
loons. — § 312. Refugees from New-England. — § 313. Swedes and Finns from 
the Delaware. — § 314. Effects of the English conquest. — § 315. The Hugue- 
nots.— § 316. German and Irish refugees.— § 317. State of the population in 
1700.— § 318. The colored population.— § 319. Social condition.— § 320. Re- 
ligious liberty. — § 321. Social progress. — § 322. The New-York character. — 
§ 323. Influence of commerce. — § 324. State of learning. — § 325. Distinctive 
characteristics. — § 326. The Yankee and the Knickerbocker. — § 327. The 
New-Yorker and the Virginian. — § 328. Assimilating power 300-320 

XVI.— THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 329. Basis of estimate. — § 330. Growth for the past century. — § 331. Ratio of 
increase. — § 332. Ratio for the future. — § 333. Accidental modifications. — 
§ 334. Ratio of the city to the State and nation. — § 335. Growth of cities. — 
§ 336. Population the basis of estimate. — § 337. Concentration of trade. — 
§ 338. Whence can the people be gotten? — § 339. Natural advantages of 
New- York. — § 340. Inland commerce. — § 341. Relations with other cities. — 
§ 342. New-York as a place of residence. — § 343. Advantages of its ground- 
plot. — § 344. Character of the future city. — § 345. Conclusion 321-339 



MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS. 



/ PACK 

^ CITT HALL (FRONTISPIECE) 2 

V NEW-AMSTEEDAM 31 

V DUTCH COSTUMES 51 

~^ PLAN OF THE CITY IN 1696 83 

"^ PLAN OF THE CITY IN 1763 109 

/ THE " SAIL-LOFT " 114 



JOHN-STREET METHODIST CHURCH .. 118 ■/ 

NEW-YORK CRYSTAL PALACE 220 '^ 

HIGH BRIDGE 228 ^ 

NEW-YORK ORPHAN ASYLUM 249 / 

3.\1L0K'8 HOME 254/ 

FREE ACADEMY 273 '' 



CITY OF NEW-YORK. 



CHAPTEE I. 

DISCOVERY, DESCRIPTION, AND EARLY OCCUPATION— 

1609-1630. 

^ 1. ^ strange sight is seen. 

On tlie 3d day of September, in the year 1609, a 
strange and unaccountable phenomenon was witnessed 
by the wandering savages who happened to be in the 
neighborhood of Sandy Hook, and in sight of the 
place where the waters of the Lower Bay unite with 
the ocean. A creature of a size and proportions that 
quite surpassed their conceptions, came moving, as if 
self-impelled, upon the face of the water, apparently 
descending from the clouds, or coming from the dim 
and mysterious regions of the great deep. Passing 
through the entrance that leads from the untamed 
wastes of the wide ocean into the sleeping or sporting 
ripples of the inland bay, the wonderful stranger ad- 
vanced to a considerable distance onward, and then 
stopped suddenly, and remained unmoved. The won- 
dering savages gazed upon the unwonted sight with 
superstitious awe. The strange visitor, thought they, 
must be an inhabitant of another world, or of the 
scarcely less mysterious far-off regions beyond the seas, 
of which confused and uncertain rumors had reached 



14 criT OF NEW -YORK. 

them ; or, perhaps, the Great Spirit himself had come 
in this manner to visit his children in the wilderness, 
but who could tell whether in mercy or in wrath ? 

^ 2. Hendrick Hudson and the " Crescent." 

The vessel that then entered the unknown waters 
of New -York Bay was the Crescent, commanded by 
Henry Hudson, who, though himself an Englishman, 
was sailing in a Dutch vessel, and under the flag of 
the United Provinces. " Three years before, under the 
flag of his own country, he had coasted the western 
shores of Greenland, and pierced the Northern Ocean 
to within eight degrees of the pole, while searching 
for a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. 
Two years later, the attempt to reach India by the 
northwest passage was renewed, and again failed of its 
purpose. The want of success in these two enter- 
prises disheartened the London merchants under 
whose patronage they had been undertaken. Not 
so, however, with the undaunted navigator, who, like 
Columbus, his great prototype, when his own country- 
men refused to sustain him, sought the assistance of 
strangers, and was employed by the Dutch East India 
Company to prosecute still farther his favorite work 
of discovery. He set sail on this memorable voyage 
on the 4th of April ; and keeping farther southward 
than before, he left Newfoundland to the right, and 
running down the southern coast of Acadia, (Nova 
Scotia,) anchored at length near the mouth of a noble 
river, since known as the Penobscot. Thence passing 
still farther to the south, he discovered Cape Cod, of 
which he took possession in the name of the United 
Provinces, and gave it the name of New-Holland. 



DISCOVERY AND EARLY OCCUPATION. 15 

But finding, as he proceeded yet farther to the south- 
west, that he was approaching the settlements of his 
countrymen in Virginia, he turned to the northwest 
to explore the unknown waters lying in that direction, 
hoping to find some opening that might conduct him 
to the vast expanse of the South Sea. It was thus 
that, after a voyage of five months, Hudson entered 
the inland waters of the middle region of the North 
American coast, and began the discoveries that have 
given to his name an imperishable renown. 

^ 3. He explores the harbor arM river. 

The barbarous inhabitants of the shores, though 
overawed by the first appearance of the Crescent, 
soon recovered from their consternation, and after a 
short time communications opened free between the 
vessel and the shore. A week was spent at the first 
anchorage, after which, passing through the Nar- 
rows — the strait that connects the lower and upper 
bays — on the 11th of September, 1609, Hudson, the 
first of Europeans to explore this hitherto sequestered 
region, brought his sea-worn craft to ride quietly upon 
the broad bosom of the noble river that now, with 
manifest propriety, perpetuates his name. Ten days 
more were occupied in exploring the river. Cautious- 
ly sounding his way, the intrepid navigator brought 
his vessel across the broad waters of Tappan Bay, and 
through the narrow passage of the Highlands, till, 
opposite the spot now crowned with a city bearing his 
own name, he came to shallows, and there he cast his 
anchor. Proceeding still farther in his boats, he ex- 
amined the river and its banks till it dwindled to a 
comparatively insignificant fresh-water stream. Then 



16 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

turning his face once more toward the ocean, about 
a month after he had first entered these inland waters, 
he again passed outward through the same channel by 
which he had entered, and leaving his new discoveries 
to their original solitudes, he hastened to report to 
his employers the fruits of his adventures. 

^ 4. Did Hudson first discover these regions ? 

The question has been raised whether indeed Hud- 
son and his companions were the first Europeans that 
ever entered the waters of New -York Bay. Conjec- 
ture has made tMs region a portion of the mysterious 
Vinland, so famous in Scandinavian story. Fancy 
has also brought the wandering Prince Madoc to this 
coast, and within these quiet waters. It has been 
more confidently asserted that Yerrazani, nearly a 
hundred years before the date of Hudson's discovery, 
actually entered this harbor, and spent some time in 
its examination, though the proof of this assertion is 
far from being satisfactory. With somewhat greater 
probability, it is declared that persons in the employ 
of the Dutch Greenland Company resorted to this 
place about the year 1598, to find a shelter for them- 
selves during the winter months ; but of this, too, the 
proof is wholly unsatisfactory. So far as any reliable 
evidence is concerned, Hudson's claim to priority in 
the discovery of the harbor of the commercial metropo- 
lis of the New World, and of the river that bears his 
name, is still unimpeached. 

^ 5. How the newly-discovered region appeared. 

The newly-discovered landscape appears to have 
impressed the minds of the discoverers with the most 



DISCOVERY AND EARLY OCCUPATION. 17 

lively and agreeable emotions. September is, in 
many respects, the most delightful season of the year 
in this part of the world ; and the weather, during the 
stay of the voyagers, seems to have been, for the most 
part, highly favorable. The accounts they gave of 
the lands they had discovered were at once true to 
nature, and yet almost enchanting. To employ the 
lanofuao-e of a chronicler of these events: "The island 
of Manhattan spread wide before them, like some 
sweet vision of fancy, or some fair creation of indus- 
trious magic. Its hills of smiling green swelled gently 
one above another, crowned with lofty trees of luxuri- 
ant growth, some pointing their tapering foliage to- 
ward the clouds, which were gloriously transparent, 
and others loaded with a verdant burden of clamber- 
ing vines, bowing their branches to the earth, that 
was covered with flowers. On the gentle declivities 
of the hills were scattered in gay profusion, the dog- 
wood, the sumach, and the wild briar, whose scarlet 
berries and white blossoms glowed brightly among 
the deep green of the surrounding foliage ; and here 
and there a circling column of smoke rising from the 
little glens that opened along the shore, seemed to 
promise the weary voyagers a welcome at the hands 
of their fellow-creatures." Another writer, in sketch- 
ing the history of this discovery, has given other feat- 
ures of the scene with equal truthfulness and felicity 
of expression. " Eeptiles sported in the stagnant 
pools, or crawled unharmed over piles of moldering 
trees. The spotted deer crouched among the thickets, 
but not to hide, for there was no pursuer ; and there 
were nothing but wild animals to crop the uncut 
herbage of the productive prairies. Silence reigned. 



18 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

broken it may have been by the flight of land-birds, 
or the flapping of water-fowl, and rendered more dis- 
mal by the howling of beasts of prey. The streams, 
not yet limited to channels, spread over sand-bars 
tufted with copses of willows ; or waded through wastes 
of reeds : or slowly, but surely, undermined the groups 
of sycamores that grew by their side. The smaller 
brooks spread out into sedgy swamps, that were over- 
hung by clouds of mosquitoes ; masses of decaying 
vegetation fed the exhalations with the seeds of pesti- 
lence, and made the balmy air of the summer's even- 
ing as deadly as it seemed grateful. Vegetable life 
and death were mingled hideously together. The hor- 
rors of corruption frowned on the fruitless fertility of 
uncultivated nature." 

^ 6. How the native inhabitants appeared. 

The land thus discovered was not altogether an 
uninhabited waste. It was the dwelling place of 
man ; but of man debased to the same state of un- 
cultivated wildness that marked the face of nature 
around him. Of the numerous powerful tribes that 
once possessed the regions now covered by the cities 
and villages, the fields and meadows of our smiling 
country, none were located about the places visited by 
these foreign adventurers. Scattered and enfeebled 
bands of the great family of the Mohegans w^ere found 
along the banks of the Hudson ; and the Manhattans, 
a small and feeble tribe, had their few " smokes'' on 
the eastern bank near the river's mouth. These 
Indians were among the least elevated, in social posi- 
tion and in useful knowledge, of all the families of 
American savages ; nor were they such formidable 



DISCOVERY AND EARLY OCCUPATION. 19 

warriors as were sometimes found among these fierce 
children of nature. In harmony with the rude nature 
around them, they were vagrants and wanderers over 
the face of the country, rather than lords of the soil. 
Their architecture was the rudest that debased human 
ingenuity could devise, or untaught human hands 
construct. Their food consisted of ill-flavored roots 
and wild fruits, or the precarious produce of the chase. 
Their religion (if indeed they can be classed among 
religious beings) was the indistinct prompting of an 
immortal mind shut up in the darkness of ignorance, 
and impelled by the untamed passions of a depraved 
heart. In character, habits, and pursuits, the human 
tenants of these wilds were but one remove from 
their irrational associates of the wilderness. 

^ 7. General aspect of the hay and environs. 

Before proceeding to notice the affairs of the Euro- 
peans, as they subsequently occurred in the region 
whose discovery has now been detailed, it may be 
agreeable'' to the reader to have a more definite ac- 
count of the local configuration of the newly-discovered 
country. Few spots of earth unite more of the ele- 
ments of beauty than may be seen in a bird's-eye 
view of the harbor of New -York and environs. The 
eyes of the original discoverers saw this scene in all 
its beauty, when, in the soft light and transparent 
atmosphere of early autumn, they first looked out 
upon it. After gazing upon this landscape under 
like circumstances, one may readily sympathize with 
the spirit of their glowing descriptions, and would 
esteem such gorgeous language as indicative of a just 
sensibility rather than of an exuberant fancy. Since 



20 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

that time, art may have added something to its re- 
finement ; but in its original solitude there was also 
an awful sublimity mingling with and rising above the 
sweetness of this verdant scene, that is now wanting. 

^ 8. The Lower Bay and Narrows. 

The entrance to these quiet waters lies through a 
broad passage of more than four fathoms depth at low- 
tide, with the drifting sands of Coney Island on the 
east, and a long sand-bar projecting far out from the 
main-land (now called Sandy Hook) on the west. Im- 
mediately within the bar the waters spread out far to 
the west, forming a capacious inland bay, and in- 
sinuating far into the country. The ground in front, 
though apparently a portion of the continent, is, in 
fact, an island, being separated from the main-land by 
a narrow belt of water — the well known Staten Island. 
On the east of this is a long channel separating it 
from Long Island, and uniting the Lower Bay with 
the harbor, or Upper Bay. This channel is called the 
Narrows, and is the only and sufficient medium of 
communication in this direction with the ocean from 
New-York Bay. Along its eastern border runs the 
shore of Long Island, at the south a low sandy beach, 
but farther north a beautiful and fertile tract ele- 
vated more than a hundred feet from the water. 

^ 9. New -York Harhor. 
As seen by one approaching it from the Narrows, 
the Bay of New -York presents one of the finest land 
and water views on the face of the earth. A beauti- 
ful sheet of water expands on every side, with its jut- 
ting shores and frowning headlands in the dim dis- 



DISCOVERY AND EARLY OCCUPATION. 21 

tance — yet not so remote but that their waving out- 
lines may he readily traced. On the left the upper 
side of Staten Island stretches away to the west, form- 
ing the base of the picture, while in front, slightly to 
the left, rise the blue shores of New-Jersey, with the 
hills of Hoboken in the distance. Directly to the west- 
ward, the waters open a passage into a deep inland bay, 
now known as Newark Bay, which is separated from 
the Bay of New -York by a low and broad peninsula, 
called Elizabethtown Point. Two small islands (Bed- 
low^s and Ellis's) are seen in this direction — green 
specks, rising out of the water, and giving increased 
beauty to the fair scenery. Immediately in front the 
noble Hudson spreads out its broad surface, extending 
far into the interior — itself an arm of the sea, capa- 
ble of bearing the united navies of the world. On 
the right, after passing Long Island, which here rises 
in a precipitous headland, is, first. Governor's Island, 
a verdant spot of earth covering a continuation of the 
long ledge of rocks that underlies Manhattan Island. 
This island is less than a mile in circuit, and but a 
few feet above the level of high-water ; and, lying at 
the mouth of the channel that here enters from the 
east, divides it into two parts. A little farther on- 
ward rises the jocky projection of Manhattan Island, 
once the desolate region already described, but now 
the seat of commerce and the dwelling-place of the 
multitudes that make up the Empire City of America. 

^ 10. The East River and Hurlgate. 

The channel that opens to the right — a deep and 
broad strait called the East River, and separating 
Long Island and Manhattan Island — leads from the 



22 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

Bay of New-York into another smaller bay, (Walla- 
bout,) and still farther onward it winds northward 
through a cluster of rocky islands — four of the largest 
of which are called, after early proprietors, BlackwelFs, 
RandalPs, Ward^s, and Berrian's — to the celebrated 
eddy and whirlpool called by the Dutch settlers 
Helder-gaat, or Helle-gaat, meaning the bright passage y 
which the English corrupted into Hellgate, a name 
more recently softened into Hiirlgate. This renowned 
pass, the terror of early navigators, and the scene of 
many a thrilling legend, demands a more circum- 
stantial description than most other localities here 
enumerated. 

It must be noticed that the East River connects two 
arms of the sea, which communicate with the ocean 
at points separated by nearly two degrees of longitude. 
Of course the tide enters by the eastern way consider- 
ably earlier than by the other, and, consequently, the 
water is forced rapidly through the narrower parts of 
the strait. At the point in question an irregular pile 
of rocks — a ledge with immense holders lying con- 
fusedly upon it — extends quite across the channel, 
through and over which the water is forced with great 
violence. These rocks form a partial dam, so that 
the passage of the tide is somewhat obstructed, and 
the water on the side of the flood elevated above the 
level of the other side, and, of course, rapids and eddies 
are formed in various places. The overlying rocks 
sometimes form subaqueous channels, through which 
the water is forced by the pressure of the tide, and 
rising from which the current spreads over the surface, 
giving it the appearance of a boiling caldron. These 
agitations occur only when the tide is rising or fall- 



DISCOVERY AND EARLY OCCUPATION. 23 

ing ; at slack-water, whether flood or ebb, both sides 
being at the same level, all is quiet. The interrup- 
tion to navigation caused by this obstruction is less 
serious than might be apprehended. The channels 
between the higher crags of the rocks are large 
enough to give ample space for the safe passage of 
all kinds of inland water craft ; and experienced navi- 
gators are accustomed to pass and repass " the gate" 
without loss or apprehension of danger. 

§ 11. Harlem River. 

To the west of Hurlgate, a deep bay, full of low 
reedy islands, indents the shore, and, narrowing to a 
diminutive channel, reaches quite over to the Hudson, 
and forms the northern boundary of Manhattan Island. 
This at the south-eastern end is called Harlem Kiver ; 
but at its junction with the Hudson, where it is a di- 
minutive water-course, it is called Spuytendevil Creek. 
The direction of this channel, from river to river, is 
nearly north and south, cutting the narrow belt of 
land transversely, and making a distance of four times 
its width. 

§ 12. Manhattan Island — geologically and topographically. 

Manhattan Island is a narrow tongue of land lying 
between the Hudson Eiver on the west, and on the 
east that part of Long Island Sound commonly known 
as the East Eiver. The same body of water forms its 
southern boundary, while Harlem Eiver lies on the 
north. Its greatest length, along the Hudson Eiver, 
is a little more than thirteen miles : its breadth varies 
from one to two and one-third miles. Its aggregate 
are9, amounts to about fourteen thousand acres. The 



24 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

entire island is underlaid by a ledge of stratified 
granitic rock, extending from north to south, and 
rising in some places to the height of nearly two hun- 
dred feet, and in others sinking to a considerable 
depth below the surface. The geological character of 
the island determines at once its figure and its sur- 
face, both of which are rough and irregular. Sudden 
acclivities and projecting crags were originally inter- 
mingled with ponds and marshes. In some parts the 
tide penetrated nearly to the middle of the island ; and 
in others were fresh-water ponds, elevated considerably 
above tide-water. Toward the southern part of the 
island was a large extent of diluvial earth overlying 
the sunken rock, that came to the surface again at the 
southern point, and there only about at the level of 
the water. This tract extended nearly a mile up the 
Hudson, and more than half a mile along the East 
Kiver. Beyond this, and about midway between the 
two rivers, was a pond of fresh water, which was dis- 
charged by a brook running south-eastwardly to the 
East Eiver, through a vast swamp, or estuary — the 
tract now reaching from Pearl-street on the west to 
Catharine-street on the east, and extending up nearly 
to Chatham-street. To the west of this swamp was 
another of less extent, separated from the former by 
a ridge, upon which Pearl-street runs. This was long- 
known as Beekman's swamp, and the portion of the 
city erected upon the spot is still called "the Swamp." 
To the west of the Fresh Pond was a valley of wet land 
reaching down to the Hudson, and ending in a marsh, 
' a region now traversed by Canal-street. Beyond this 
belt of fresh water and marshes, that almost insulated 
the part below them, there lay to the north-eastward 



DISCOVERY AND EARLY OCCUPATION. 25 

a fine tract of arable land and extensive meadows, the 
south-eastern angle of which was known for many 
years as Corlaer's Hook, so called after an early pro- 
prietor. The upland portions of this side of Manhat- 
tan Island were early appropriated by the Dutch col- 
onists for farms, or " boweries," from which circum- 
stance the neighborhood came to be called " the bow- 
eries " — a name still borne by a principal avenue of 
this part of the city, and perhaps destined to live while 
New -York shall continue to be a city. Farther up, 
on the eastern side, the land was more broken and 
rocky, swelling into eminences, with intervening 
swamps and morasses. 

The west side of the island was less varied in its 
natural features than the other. The shore presented 
an almost straight line from end to end. The region 
extending northward from the Fresh Pond along the 
Hudson consisted of irregular hills and valleys, gener- 
ally without fast rocks, although full of large and 
small loose stones and rocks, with springs of pure wa- 
ter, and with rivulets and marshes. The shore of the 
Hudson for a distance of three or four miles was low, 
and intersected by bays and estuaries ; farther up it 
rises in high rocky hills of a most rugged and forbid- 
ding aspect. The whole of the upper part of Manhat- 
tan Island, embracing more than half of its entire 
area, was always ill adapted to agricultural purposes, 
and to the present time some portions have never been 
subdued by the skill of the cultivator. A more for- 
bidding spot of earth on which to erect a great city 
has seldom been seen than was presented in the origi- 
nal ground-plan of the city of New-York ;• and in rear- 
ing a city on such a foundation the builders have com- 

2 



26 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

bined the arts of the stoiie-cutters of ancient Petrsea 
and the amphibious labors of the founders of Venice 
and St. Petersburgh. 

§ IS. Productions — vegetable and animal. 

As seen by the early navigators, this rugged frag- 
ment of creation was clothed in its primeval forests. 
Upon its knolls and hilltops grew the hickory, the 
chesnut, the white and yellow oaks, and the white ash, 
with underwoods of sumach, dogwood and hazel. Along 
the hillsides and by the w^ater's edge were the beach, 
the sycamore, and the stately whitewood ; and in the 
swamps, the elm, the white maple, the gum, and the 
black ash, with a countless undergrowth of shrubs 
and brambles, and clambering vines. 

Its animal productions were those common to this 
part of the world. The sluggish bear straggled 
through these forests, while droves of gaunt wolves 
howled from the hilltops, and occasionally the shrill 
scream of the panther awoke the echoes along the 
valleys, and herds of timid deer cropped the green 
herbage in quiet security, or fled in dismay at the 
approach of their voracious enemies. The feathered 
tribes too were there in great abundance. Among the 
upland trees were heard the notes of the robin and 
blackbird, mingled with the screams of the garrulous 
bluejay, and the cooing of the wood-pigeons, that swept 
over the forests in innumerable companies. In the 
thickets were the thrush, the catbird, and the sparrow; 
and along the water's edge were found vast numbers 
of geese, ducks, and snipes. Along the streams and 
at the watet'-sides were colonies of beavers, or more 
solitary otters, muskrats, and minks ; the forests were 



DISCOVERY AND EARLY OCCUPATION. 27 

aiumatocl with vast numbers of squirrels, while in the 
deep waters were porpoises, tortoises, and sharks. 

§ 14. The homeward voyage. 

The homeward voyage of the Crescent was pros- 
perous, and in due time the gallant ship entered Dart- 
mouth harbor in safety. Hudson immediately for- 
warded to his patrons a glowing account of his dis- 
coveries ; and as they had been made by a party sail- 
ing under the flag of the Provinces, the rights of 
proprietorship belonged to that country. Thus, from 
the earliest period, was the country on both sides of 
the Hudson Eiver conceded to the Dutch, by right of 
original discovery. 

§ 15. Early occupation. 

The new proprietors did not permit the discovery 
made in their behalf to be a barren one : the posses- 
sion was soon occupied and turned to advantage. The 
very next year — while Hudson, again employed by 
his own countrymen, was prosecuting that glorious 
but fatal voyage that resulted in the discovery of an 
immense inland sea in the northern portion of our 
continent, which is at once his grave and his monu- 
ment — some merchants of Amsterdam fitted out a 
vessel with an assorted cargo, designed for traffic with 
the natives on Hudson's Eiver. The adventure proved 
successful, and was annually renewed for several suc- 
ceeding years. In 1613, Sir John Argall, with a 
semi-piratical squadron under English colors, entered 
the harbor at the mouth of Hudson's Eiver, where he 
found a few rude dwellings on the southern extremity 
of Manhattan Island, which served as the summer 



28 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

quarters for a small company of Dutch traders, who 
were prosecuting their gainful purposes in this un- 
frequented region. They acknowledged allegiance to 
Holland, and claimed the protection of the flag of 
their own country. They, however, consented to hoist 
the English flag when commanded to do so by the 
British cruiser ; but they pulled it down again as soon 
as he had gone. In 1614, seven ships were sent to 
America by a joint-stock company of merchants re- 
siding in Amsterdam, under the command of Adrian 
Block and Hendrick Christianse ; and a rude fort 
was erected at the lower extremity of the island. The 
next year a fort was established at the head of navi- 
gation on the Hudson, near to the present site of the 
city of Albany. 

§ 16. "^4 trading-post on Hudson's River^ 

In these early enterprises of the merchants of Am- 
sterdam, trade rather than colonization seems to have 
been the governing purpose. For several years no 
colony was attempted, and the trade of the whole 
region was an individual enterprise of those who chose 
to engage in it. But, in 1621, the Dutch West India 
Company was incorporated, with a monopoly of the 
trade of all the Dutch foreign possessions on both 
shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and having authority to 
govern any unoccupied territories that they might 
choose to appropriate. The immense regions thus 
given up to this new corporation were distributed 
among branches of the company located in the 
principal cities of Holland, and the country on the 
Hudson became the portion of the branch located at 
Amsterdam. Presently rude cottages began to clus- 



DISCOVERY AND EARLY OCCUPATION. 29 

ter about the block-house on Manhattan Island, and 
the incipient metropolis assumed the title of New- 
Amsterdam, while the whole territory of Hudson's 
Pliver was called New-Netherland. A government 
was soon afterward established, and for nine years 
from 1624 Peter Minuets iilled the important post of 
director of the infant colony. It was during this 
period that the whole island of Manhattan J^^as pur- 
chased from the Indians, for a sum about equal to 
twenty-four dollars. 

§ 17. The town, as it was. 

" These," says an eloquent historian of our colonial 
affairs, " were the rude beginnings of New -York. Its 
first age was the age of hunters and Indian traders ; 
of traffic in the skins of otters and beavers ; when the 
native tribes were employed in the pursuit of game, 
and the yacht of the Dutch, in quest of furs, pene- 
trated every bay, and bosom, and inlet, from Narra- 
ganset to the Delaware. It was the day of straw roofs, 
wooden chimneys, and wind-mills." 



30 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

CHAPTER II. 

NE W-AM ST ERD AM. — 1630-16 6 4. 

§ 18. The patroons. 

For the first twenty years after their discovery, the 
Dutch possessions on the Hudson had much more the 
character of a trading-post than that of a colony. 
Holland was at that time becoming a nation of mer- 
chants, and such was the growth of trade at New- 
Amsterdam that in 1632 the exports amounted to 
the very considerable sum of fifty-seven thousand dol- 
lars. In 1629 a grand scheme for colonizing the 
Dutch territories in America was formed in Holland. 
Liberty was given to the members of the Dutch West 
India Company to plant colonies in New-Netherland 
on certain easy conditions. It was decreed, that who- 
ever should, within four years after giving notice of 
his purpose to do so, form a settlement of not less than 
fifty persons of fifteen years old and over, should be 
entitled to occupy and possess a tract of land sixteen 
miles in extent, along the sea-shore, or the bank of 
any navigable river, (or eight miles when both banks 
were occupied,) with an indefinite extent inland. The 
persons who formed colonies under this provision were 
called patroons, and were intrusted with large powers 
within their several manors, both as proprietors and 
as civil magistrates. 

§ 19. The work advances. 

Under this system of colonization the lands about 
the bay, and on both sides of the Hudson, were speedily 



NEW-AMSTERDAM. 33 

taken up by tlie more enterprising members of the 
Dutch West India Company. The island of Manhat- 
tan, however, was wisely reserved for the use of the 
company. The patroons, in order to secure the lands 
they had appropriated, made great efforts to obtain 
the requisite number of colonists. Some were ob- 
tained by emigrations from Holland, and some from 
the English colonies. To forward this purpose, liberal 
conditions were offered by the patroons ; and, follow- 
ing the example of the home-government, the colonial 
authorities granted a full toleration to all Christian 
sects. 

§ 20. Wouter Van Twillei', Governor. 

In the year 1633 the little colony of New-Nether- 
land received a governor from the fatherland in the 
person of Wouter (or AValter) Van Twiller, and the 
scattered settlements and trading-posts on the Hudson 
were erected into a province of the United Xetherlands. 
The new governor brought over with him a company 
of a hundred and four soldiers, a school-master, and a 
minister. But as the trade with the Indians was the 
all-engrossing matter of interest, but little was done 
toward introducing permanent settlers into the prov- 
ince. The governor, however, applied himself vigor- 
ously to his public duties, and several improvements 
were undertaken. The fort was rebuilt, with barracks 
for the soldiers ; a church and parsonage were erected, 
and also a house for the governor ; and mills and other 
buildings necessary for the welfare of the settlement. 
The island of Manhattan was divided into farms, 
called " boweries," and on the one nearest to the fort, 
(that is, from Wall-street to the Park,) the governor 

2* 



34 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

had a dwelling, barn, brewery, and boat-house built. 
Buildings were also erected on some of the other 
" boweries '^ of the company. 

^21. The governor in trouble — is recalled. 
Durino; the whole term of Van Twiller's adminis- 
tration the little colony was in a state of disquiet or 
alarm. On the east the English were steadily en- 
croaching on the territory of the company, and on the 
Delaware the Indians were carrying on a destructive 
war against the feeble settlements on that river. 
Nor were the internal affairs of the government less 
troublesome. Between the government and the pa- 
troons continual disputes were kept up, as to their 
respective rights, and especially as to the privilege of 
trading with the Indians, of which both parties claim- 
ed a monopoly. At the same time the governor was 
not altogether forgetful of his private interests. In 
company with several others he purchased of the 
Indians a fertile tract of land on Nassau or Long- 
Island, (at Vlatlands,) upon which the new proprietors 
proceeded to establish farms. He also purchased for 
his own use the little island just south of the fort, 
originally called Nutten Island, from the great number 
of nut-trees found on it ; but, from its being the prop- 
erty of Governor Van Twiller, it has since been known 
as Governor's Island. But the discontents that pre- 
vailed in the colony at length came to the notice of 
the company, and, from the character of the com- 
plaints, it was doomed best to recall the governor, 
which accordingly was done, after an administration 
of four years. 



NEW-AMSTERDAM. 35 

^ 22. William Kieft, Governor. 

The new governor, William Kieft, did not arrive in 
the colony till March, 1638. He then found the 
company's affairs much neglected, and the public 
property in a ruinous condition, — the building going 
to decay, — the boweries or farms untenanted and strip- 
ped of their stock, and the purchase of furs, which 
constituted the principal object of interest in the 
colony, engrossed by private traders, and conducted in 
a most profligate manner. The new governor en- 
deavored by orders and proclamations to remedy 
these evils, but with only partial success. A few ad- 
ditional settlers were also brought into the province 
about this time, and some further purchases of land 
from the Indians were made ; but the growth of the 
settlements was as yet inconsiderable. 

^ 23. The Swedes on the Delaware. 

About this time Peter Minuets, formerly director 
of New-Amsterdam, with a company of Swedes, under 
the patronage of Queen Christina, daughter of the 
great Gustavus Adolphus, entered the Delaware, and 
purchased of the Indians a tract of land on the west- 
ern side of the bay, and built Fort Christina. Kieft 
was greatly dissatisfied with this intrusion upon ter- 
ritory claimed by the Dutch West India Company, 
and, by repeated and violent protests, to which Minuets 
paid no attention, forbade the intended settlement. 
But the Dutch governor deemed it unsafe to attempt 
to dislodge the intruders by force, and the power of 
Sweden in the affairs of Europe was such as to forbid 
the home-government interfering in the matter. So 



36 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

the little Swedish colony was left to pursue its course 
in peace. 

^ 24. New inducements to settlers. 

The little progress made by the colony, at length 
induced the directors of the West India Company to 
mitigate some of the rigors of their policy. The 
monopoly of the trade to the colony was so far modi- 
fied as to permit any who might choose to do so to 
engage in it ; though only the company's ships could 
be used for transportation. A free passage was given 
to all who wished to remove from Holland to the 
colony; and emigrants were offered lands, houses, 
cattle, and farming tools, at an annual rent, and 
clothes and provisions on credit. The authority of 
the patroons was defined and somewhat diminished. 
To every person who should bring six persons into the 
colony, two hundred acres of land were to be given ; 
and the towns and villages were to have magistrates 
of their own. Other provisions of a similar character 
were made, regulating the trade with the Indians, 
and also providing for the religious and educational 
wants of the people. 

§ 25. Population increases. 

Under the new arrangements a number of emi- 
grants w^re drawn from Holland, some of them men 
of considerable property. Some English indented 
servants, who had served out their time in Virginia, 
settled also in New-Netherland ; and some Anabap- 
tists and others, who had been driven out of New- 
England by religious intolerance, sought here a place 
of safety. The settlements were now rapidly extend- 



NEW-AMSTERDAM. 37 

ed in every direction around New-Amsterdam. On 
Long Island, in addition to tlie settlements at Walla- 
bout and Flatlands, another was commenced (1639) 
at Breukelen [Brooklyn]. Staten Island, and the re- 
gion to the west of Newark Bay were both granted 
to patroons, and settlements commenced upon them. 
New-Amsterdam shared only indirectly in these im- 
provements, but its progress, was slow, though steadily 
onward. " A fine stone tavern," says an old chronicler, 
was built, and the " mean old barn " that had served 
. for a church, was replaced by a new stone building, 
erected within the inclosure of the fort, and paid for 
partly by the company, and partly by subscription. 

^ 26. Further troubles by other colonies. 

The foreign relations of New-Netherland became 
by degrees more and more complicated and embar- 
rassing. The encroachments from the New-England 
colonies were becoming truly alarming ; and, on the 
south, the Swedes were firmly seated in their position, 
and threatened to exclude the Dutch entirely from 
their possessions on the Delaware. The growing im- 
portance of the colony of Eensselaerwick, at the north, 
which began to assume a kind of independence, be- 
came a further cause of uneasiness. These difliculties, 
however, though sufficiently embarrassing, were not 
the worst that the governor had to oppose. A more 
terrible calamity than any of these presently threaten- 
ed the colony, from a nearer and much more implaca- 
ble enemy. 



38 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 27. Troubles with the Indians. 

The Indian tribes of the regions about New- Amster- 
dam became incensed against the whites by a thousand 
petty provocations, arising from the avarice or folly 
or mere wantonness of the colonists, and, in return, 
committed such acts of revenge as seemed to demand 
chastisement from the government. The Earitans, a 
tribe residing on the west side of the Hudson, were the 
first to feel the prowess of the white man. Both 
parties were sufferers in the conflict that took place, 
and the Indians gladly accepted the proffered terms 
of peace. Soon afterward a Dutchman was killed by 
an Indian belonging to a tribe located near Tappan 
Bay, and the murderer protected by his tribe, for 
which cause eighty men were sent to inflict due pun- 
ishment upon them. Alarmed at the threatened in- 
vasion, the Indians promised to give up the murderer. 
The expedition thereupon returned to New-iVmster- 
dam, but the promise was never fulfilled. A quarrel 
subsequently broke out between the colonists and the 
Hackcnsacs, and two white men were treacherously 
murdered by the Indians. The chiefs offered wampum 
in atonement, which the governor refused, and de- 
manded the murderers. Just before this time the 
Tappan Indians, fearing an attack from the powerful 
tribes of the Mohawks, removed down into the neigh- 
borhood of New-Amsterdam, and were mingled with 
the neighboring tribes, especially the Hackensacs. 
Soon after these united bands of savages came and 
encamped in two bodies at no great distance from the 
fort. Their design was evidently not hostile ; but the 
occasion was seized by the enemies of the Indians at 



NEW-AMSTERDAM. 39 

New- Amsterdam, and an order to attack tliem was 
obtained from the governor, while under the influence 
of wine at a holiday feast. The attack was wholly 
unexpected by the Indians, and very little resistance 
was made. A terrible slaughter ensued. About 
eighty of the savages, including old men, women, and 
children, perished miserably in the conflict, or were 
afterward murdered in cold blood. The noise of the 
battle, and the shrieks of the women and children, 
could be plainly heard at the fort. Next day the 
war party returned into the town, bringing with them 
thirty prisoners. 

^ 28. An Indian war — A treaty of peace. 

These atrocities, with others of a like character 
that were soon after perpetrated, aroused the Indians 
to a high pitch of exasperation. Eleven petty tribes 
united to make war against the Dutch, whose unpro- 
tected boweries, reaching in every direction many 
miles from New-Amsterdam, offered an easy prey to 
the savages. Many houses were burned, the cattle 
were killed, the men slain, and several women and 
children made prisoners. The terrified and ruined 
colonists fled on all sides into New-Amsterdam, and, 
all who could, sailed for Holland. The expeditions 
sent against the Indians were only partially success- 
ful in subduing them, and, worst of all, discontents 
and mutual criminations distracted the councils of the 
governor. The Indians at length, satiated with blood, 
offered terms of peace, which were gladly accepted by 
the whites, and a respite given from the bloody and 
ruinous conflict. 



40 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

^ 29. More Indian wars — A terrible slaughter. 
But the peace was of short continuance. A new 
confederacy of seven tribes again spread consternation 
and ruin among the frontier boweries ; the settle- 
ments beyond Newark Bay, and those on the west end 
of Long Island, were laid in ruins, and only three 
boweries were left on Manhattan Island. The colo- 
nists were clustered in straw huts about the fort, 
which was in a ruinous and hardly ten an table condi- 
tion — themselves short of provisions, and their cattle 
in danger of starving. A palisade was erected to the 
north of the town, which remained for half a century, 
and is still commemorated in the name of the street 
(Wall-street) that finally took its place. The next 
year (1644) was occupied by an expensive and har- 
assing Indian war. The Indians' villages on Staten 
Island were burned, their corn destroyed, but they 
themselves eluded their pursuers. An expedition 
against a small village in the vicinity of Stamford 
produced nearly the same results. Not so, however, 
with an expedition of nearly two hundred men under 
the command of Captain John Underbill, sent against 
a hostile band near Hemstede (Hempstead) on Long 
Island, by which more than a hundred Indians were 
killed, and a number made prisoners. But the great- 
est slaughter took place later in the season, when a 
second expedition, under the same commander, was 
made against the Indians in the neighborhood of 
Stamford. The villages were reduced to ashes, and 
a fearful destruction of life occurred, with all the ac- 
companying horrors that distinguished the famous 
Pequod War. 



NEW-AMSTERDAM. 41 

^ 30. A reinforcement — peace with the Indians. 

About this time a company of one hundred and 
thirty soldiers arrived in the colony from the West 
Indies, and were quartered in New-Amsterdam. Tlie 
Indians had suffered greatly during the summer and 
autumn, and soon ceased active hostilities, and asked 
for peace. Treaties were made with the principal 
tribes during the ensuing year, by which the Indians 
agreed to remove to considerable distances from New- 
Amsterdam, and not to approach any of the settle- 
ments with their war parties ; and so the colony was 
once more freed from the horrors of a savage warfare. 

^31. Distress in the colony — Kieft recalled. 

The settlements about New- Amsterdam were almost 
ruined by these protracted wars, and at their close 
could number scarcely one hundred men. Of thirty 
flourishing boweries, but five or six remained, and 
everything bore like marks of ruin and disorder. 
Complaints were freely uttered against the adminis- 
tration of the governor, which at length induced the 
directors to recall him. He accordingly sailed for 
Holland in a vessel laden with furs valued at nearly 
a hundred thousand dollars, which was wrecked on 
the coast of Wales, and about eighty persons, including 
Governor Kieft, miserably perished. 

§ 32. Peter Stuyvesant made governor. 

The successor of Kieft was Peter Stuyvesant, late 
governor of the Dutch West Indies — a soldier by pro- 
fession, and a man of good parts and much energy of 
character. The beginning of his administration was 



42 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

distinguished by several considerable concessions of 
popular privileges. The monopoly of transportation, 
hitherto enjoyed by the company, was relinquished, 
and trade thrown open to free competition — though 
New-Amsterdam continued to be the only port of 
entry. 

§ 33. Condition of the province. 

The population of the entire province of New-Neth- 
erland at this time (1647) could not have been more 
than about two thousand souls — nearly half of whom 
were within the patroonship of Van Eensselaer. New- 
Amsterdam was a village of wooden huts, with roofs 
of straw, and chimneys of mud and sticks, abounding 
in grogshops, and places for the sale of tobacco and 
beer. At the west end of Long Island were six plan- 
tations, governed by a local magistracy, in part self- 
elected; but New- Amsterdam was still governed by 
the sole authority of the governor and his fiscal. 
Breukelen about this time first received a village 
charter. 

§ 34. The colonists obtain larger liberties. 

In 1652 the inhabitants of New- Amsterdam, by pe- 
titioning the authorities at home, obtained enlarged 
municipal privileges. A board of magistrates, or city 
court, was created, composed of two burgomasters and 
five schepens, annually selected by the governor from 
twice those numbers nominated by the magistrates 
of the preceding year. A movement was also made 
toward a still more popular form of government, by 
calling a convention of two delegates from each vil- 
lage, to provide against a threatened war with New- 
England. But the governor dissolved the convention 



NEW-AMSTERDAM. 43 

as irregular, and sneeringly characterized it as a New- 
England invention, with which he would have nothing 
to do. 

§ 35. Governor Stuyvesanfs diplomacy. 

For several years Governor Stuyvesant was chiefly 
occupied with the foreign relations of the colony, and, 
after protracted negotiations, all diflficulties were ad- 
justed with the New-En glanders on the east and the 
Swedes on the south, and the province of New-Neth- 
erland reposed in quiet and safety. It should not be 
understood, however, that the Dutch governor obtained 
all he wished in these negotiations ; for while he 
claimed both the Connecticut and the Delaware Kivers 
as parts of his province, he obtained peace only by re- 
linquishing both of them, and their territories. While 
engaged in these transactions with the neighboring 
colonies, the governor was in danger of suffering loss 
in his own capital. The Indians, taking advantage 
of the absence of the soldiers from the town, made a 
descent upon it with sixty canoes, causing great alarm, 
and doing some inconsiderable damage ; but they dis- 
persed and disappeared as soon as the forces returned. 

§ 36. Religious liberty in spite of the governor. 

The affairs of the colony now began to assume a 
more cheering aspect. Settlers arrived from various 
quarters ; among them a number of Jews, exiles from 
various parts of Europe, and also fugitives from New- 
England, driven out by religious intolerance. Al- 
ready New-Amsterdam contained a population made 
up from almost every country in Europe, and of nearly 
every religious creed. This leniency in matters of 



44 CITY OF NEAV-YORK. 

religion was not agreeable to tlie taste of the gover- 
nor, wlio liked the Lutherans and the Quakers as 
little as did his neighbors in New-England ; but he 
was overruled by his superiors at home, who com- 
manded that the same indulgence that made the pa- 
rent city a general asylum for the oppressed, should 
prevail also in its namesake on the Hudson ; so, 
though quite contrary to his wishes, the governor per- 
mitted them to remain in peace. 

§ 37. Slaves brought from Africa. 

The Dutch West India Company was largely con- 
cerned in the slave-trade, and special permission was 
given to particular merchants to send two or three 
ships to the coast of Africa to purchase slaves, and 
to promote the settlement of the country by im- 
porting them into New-Netherland. Most of the 
slaves thus introduced remained the property of the 
company, and the more trusty and industrious of 
them, after a certain period of labor, were allowed 
little farms, paying in return a certain amount of 
produce. Thus early was the African race introduced 
among the population of the colony, and the system 
of negro slavery incorporated among its institutions, 
to remain a scourge and reproach for nearly two hun- 
dred years. 

§ 38. The town and province seized by the English. 

Unquestionable as was the right of the Dutch to 
the country they occupied on the Hudson, that right 
had never been acknowledged by Great Britain ; but, 
on the contrary, the whole region was claimed as a 
portion of the possessions of that kingdom. Several 



NEW-AMSTERDAM. 45 

faint attempts to assert that claim had heen made at 
different times, but without success. Soon after the 
restoration of Charles II., this whole territory was 
granted to his brother, the Duke of York, who pro- 
ceeded immediately to take measures to seize upon 
the colony. The Dutch knew nothing of these trans- 
actions before the ships bearing the duke's forces had 
actually sailed. Eumors of the intended invasion had 
reached New- Amsterdam before the arrival of the hos- 
tile fleet, but no adequate provisions were made for 
the public defense. Stuyvesant would have given 
battle to the invaders, or suffered the rigors of a siege ; 
but his feelings were not those of the colonists gen- 
erally. The Dutch cared little whether they were 
under a Dutch or an English yoke ; and the English, 
who constituted nearly half of the entire population, 
rather favored than opposed the claims of their own 
countrymen. Accordingly, after several days spent 
in negotiations, the entire colony was surrendered to 
the English, (Sept. 8, 1664,) on terms quite satisfac- 
tory to the inhabitants. 

§ 39. New masters and a new name. 

With a change of masters, came also a change of 
name to the conquered colony ; and from that time 
both the province and the chief town were called New- 
York, in compliment to the duke, who now became 
their proprietor and ruler. Though greatly improved 
under the administration of Stuyvesant, this embryo 
mercantile metropolis of the western world consisted 
as yet but of a few narrow streets, near the southern 
extremity of Manhattan Island. There were a few 
handsome buildings, covered with tiles brought from 



46 CITY OF NEW- YORK. 

Holland ; but most of the houses were thatched cot- 



tages. 



§ 40. The town — the fort and Battery. 



The plan of the town at that early period was sub- 
stantially the same that is now found in the same 
locality. The water-line has been carried out far be- 
yond its original place, so that what were once out- 
side streets are now a considerable distance from the 
water. The southernmost point w^as occupied by the 
fort, which, however, did not lie immediately upon the 
water's edge, as a ledge of sunken rocks, extending 
ofiP this point, rendered it inaccessible to all kinds of 
water craft. Within the fort was the residence of 
the governor, the public offices, and the Dutch Cal- 
vinist church. Between this and the beach was an 
irregular and unoccupied space, which was used as a 
place of resort for out-door exercises by the towns- 
people in these primitive times. Of the manner of 
using this ancient promenade the facetious and senti- 
mental Knickerbocker gives the following account : — 

" The old burghers would repair thither of an af- 
ternoon, to smoke their pipes under the shade of the 
stately sycamores, contemplating the golden sun, as 
he gradually sunk in the west, an emblem of that 
tranquil end toward which themselves were hastening; 
while the young men and the damsels of the town 
would take many a moonlight stroll among these 
favorite haunts, watching the chaste Cynthia tremble 
along the calm bosom of the bay, or light up the 
white sail of some gliding bark, and exchanging the 
honest vows of constant affection. Such was the orio-in 
of that renowned walk, tlie Battery, which, though- 



NEW-AMSTERDAM. 47 

ostensibly devoted to the purposes of war, has ever 
been consecrated to the sweet delights of peace." 

§ 41. The Bowling-Green. 

Just above the fort was a triangular space, devoted 
to no special purpose, and therefore ready to be occu- 
pied in any way that the public convenience might 
require. This was the campus where the field-sports 
of the men and boys of New- Amsterdam took place. 
At an early period it was used by the soldiers of the 
garrison for their manual exercises, and hence it was 
called the Parade. It was also used as a cattle mar- 
ket, and in 1659 an ordinance was made by the town 
authorities regulating the manner of keeping the 
cattle here offered for sale. At a much later period 
it was inclosed, and devoted to the purpose that has 
given to it its present title — the Bowling- Green. 

§ 42. The streets and "grafts." 

From the fort, and beyond the triangle described 
above, a broad and straight roadway led back toward 
the cultivated boweries farther up the island. This 
'was from the beginning the principal street of the 
town, though not a favorite one for residences on ac- 
count of its distance from the water. The Dutch 
called it " De Heere-straat," or Main-street. In 1665, 
when an enumeration of all the houses in the town 
was made, this street had only twenty-one dwellings. 
The English changed its name to Broadway. Pass- 
ing along the south side of the fort, a street extended 
along the East Eiver to the great swamp, where it 
turned away to the northward, leading to the bower- 
Jes. The western portion of this street the Dutch 



48 CITY OF NEW-YOHK. 

called " Perel-straat ;" and the more easterly, " Hoogli- 
straat ," or High-street. This was a favorite place for 
residences with the Dutch settlers — ahout one quarter 
of all the houses in the town at the time of the con- 
quest were on this street. To the east of the fort, a 
short distance, was a small stream, ending in a deep 
marshy inlet, just eastward from the rocky point of 
Manhattan Island. This stream and inlet were, in 
the early days of the colony, excavated and turned 
into a drain and canal, called " De Graft.'^ Houses 
were afterward huilt upon its hanks, after the manner 
of Amsterdam in Holland ; and, as several smaller 
*' grafts " had heen made, this hegan to be called " De 
Heere Graft,'^ or main canal. Into this canal all ves- 
sels tradino; to New-Amsterdam were accustomed to 
enter, for the purposes of lading and unlading. Here 
was the custom-house, and, of course, the "graft " was 
an object of no little interest to the government. 
Twenty dwellings were located on its banks in 1665. 
Immediately under '*the east wall of the fort, and 
reaching down to the water close by the rocks, ran a 
little street, that seems to have been coeval with the 
town itself. The Dutch called it " Winchel-straat," 
or Shop-street: it was paved as early as 1658, before 
any other street, though it had but five houses at the 
enumeration. A battery, called Whitehall, was, at a 
subsequent period, erected near the foot of this street, 
and that name has since been given to the street. A 
street was opened leading eastward from the south- 
east angle of the fort, and, passing the " Heere graft " 
by a bridge, ended in " De Hoogh-straat." The name 
of Bridge-street was naturally given to it, and has 
never been exchanged for another. Directly above 



NEW-AMSTERDAM. 49 

this, abutting tlie east side of the fort, was another 
small street, called '' the Brewer's street," as it was 
the site of Van Cortlandt's brewery. It is now Stone- 
street. Opposite to the Parade, eastward, a drain was 
opened leading into the main canal, called '• Beaver- 
drain ;" and, on the opposite side of the canal, an- 
other drain, called " Prince's,'' entered from the east. 
On the banks of these drains the Dutch had erected 
about thirty houses before the conquest. Beaver- 
street now occupies the place of those canals. Below 
Beaver-drain, and parallel with it, was a narrow and 
inconsiderable street, called Marketfield-lane, along 
which were erected eight dwellings. On the eastern 
side of the town was a street leading to and beyond the 
city wall, called by the Dutch the " Vley," and by the 
English, Smith's Valley, subsequently William-street. 
About twenty houses were found on this road when 
the town fell into the hands of the English. 

§ 43. Population. 

The whole number of dwellings in the town at the 
time of the capture, including several outside of the 
palisade, was less than two hundred and fifty — the 
aggregate population was considerably under two 
thousand souls. Such was the famous city of New- 
Amsterdam when it became the capital of the Anglo- 
American colony of New -York, — such the Empire City 
at the close of its first half-century. 

3 



50 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

CHAPTEE III. 

NEW- YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE— 1664-1700. 

§ 44. '"''New lords make new laws^ 

The political transition of the Dutch colony of Niew- 
Nederlandt into the English ducal province of New- 
York, caused but little agitation among the people, 
as it made but little change in their affairs. The 
proprietors entered quietly upon their newly-acquired 
conquest, and, agreeably to the terms of the capitula- 
tion, set about ordering public matters. Col. Eobert 
Nichols, the commandant of the military force by 
which the conquest had been made, was constituted 
civil governor of the province. The course of policy 
adopted was liberal, and well calculated to render the 
people satisfied with the new state of things. The 
people were not treated as conquered enemies, but 
rather recognized as loyal subjects of the British 
crown, entitled to the rights and privileges of En- 
glishmen. New charters were issued to all the incor- 
porated towns and villages, reaffirming their former 
liberties, and to the city of New -York were granted 
several additional and highly important privileges. 
Instead of the Dutch municipal dignitaries, the En- 
glish system of city government was introduced, and 
the municipal authority committed to a mayor, sheriff, 
and five aldermen. An enumeration of the male in- 
habitants of the province was made, and also of the 
dwellings in the principal towns. Of the results of 
this census, so far as the city of New -York is concerned, 
some notice was taken in the preceding chapter. 




DUTCH COSTUMES, 



NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 53 

§ 45. Boundaries — the duke''s code. 

As New -York had now become an English province, 
it was no longer difficult to arrange the questions of 
boundaries, that had caused so much trouble while 
the country was held bj the Dutch, whose claims 
reached from the Connecticut to the Delaware. To 
the east, on the main-land, almost everything was 
conceded to the English colonies, when the line was 
fixed nearly as it is at present ; while on Long Island 
everything was given up to the duke and his Dutch 
subjects, much to the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants 
of the eastern part of the island, who were wholly of 
English origin. Toward the west things went yet 
worse with the claims of American-Dutch empire. 
All beyond the Hudson Eiver, as far up as Tappan 
Bay, was cut off from New- York, and erected into a 
new and independent province, and given to Sir George 
Carteret, by whom it was called New-Jersey. 

The new governor also, by the authority of the 
Duke of York, published a body of laws, regulating 
the internal affairs of the province, and defining the 
duties and privileges of all classes of persons. These 
laws were of a truly just and liberal character, and 
gave great satisfaction to the people generally, and 
even served to attract settlers from the neighboring 
colonies. The affairs of the colony seemed to be de- 
cidedly improved by the change of masters, and the 
whole term of the administration of the first English 
governor was quiet and prosperous. 

§ 46. Governor Lovelace's administration. 

The authority of Col. Nichols, the acting governor, 
was derived from a military commission ; but in 1667 



64 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

Francis Lovelace arrived in the province, bearing a 
commission from the duke, as governor, and imme- 
diately assumed the direction of public affairs. Among 
his first acts was one imposing a duty of ten per cent, 
on all imports and exports, by the sole authority of 
the duke, as proprietor of the province. Though this 
tax was not greater than the people had paid under 
the Dutch governors, and though it was to be used in 
defraying the expenses of the government of the 
province, yet the people, and especially those of En- 
glish extraction, protested against the. imposition of 
such a tax without their consent, as inconsistent with 
the rights of Englishmen. So early were the notions 
of liberty, and of hatred to arbitrary taxation, natu- 
ralized in this country, and especially in this province. 
But though the duke, for political reasons, had begun 
his career of government by making concessions to 
popular rights, he evidently had no notion of continu- 
ing as he had begun. The protest of the people was 
treated as an insult to his authority, and ordered to 
be burned by the hangman. A state of uneasiness 
and dissatisfaction was the result of this course of 
action on the part of the proprietary duke ; and to 
this were also added some slight diflSculties between 
New -York and the neighboring provinces. Apart 
from these, the six years during which the govern- 
ment was administered by Lovelace, passed away 
quietly, and generally prosperously. He appears to 
have been a just and moderate magistrate ; the single 
fault laid against him being that of the arbitrar}^ im- 
posts, which were laid by the duke rather than by the 
governor, and, it is believed, against the wish and 
remonstrance of that magistrate. 



NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 65 

§ 47. New-Netherland revived — and lost. 

In 1673 there was war between Great Britain and 
Holland, and, as the Dutch had never wholly given up 
their claims to their late possessions on the Hudson, 
a scheme was formed for their recovery. A fleet and 
armament were accordingly dispatched from Holland 
to recover the lost province. This fleet appeared be- 
fore New -York on the 30th of July, and demanded 
the unconditional surrender of the city and province 
to the States-General of Holland. The governor was 
absent from the city, and the fort was held by a Cap- 
tain John Manning, who, distrusting the fidelity of 
the inhabitants, of whom the greater portion were 
Dutch, chose to obey the summons. Accordingly, by 
a transition as easy as that by which New-Netherland 
became New -York, the latter disappeared, and the 
former again arose into being. Anthony Colve was 
made the governor of New-Amsterdam revived ; the 
local magistrates, especially in the Dutch towns, 
readily swore allegiance to the new government, and 
then all things moved on much as before. But the 
new arrangement was destined to a very brief exist- 
ence. A treaty of peace was concluded the next year 
between the contending claimants, by which Holland 
entirely relinquished her claims to the region on the 
Hudson, and forever extinguished the hope of the 
Dutch colony in America — as a genuine offshoot of 
the parent country in Europe. 

§ 48, Sir Edmond Andross, Governor. 

The province of New -York having been lost to the 
duke by the capture, and by the treaty of peace re- 



56 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

stored to the crown of England, the title of the duke 
was thought to have been vitiated. To obviate any 
difficulty that might arise from that cause, the duke 
took out a new patent, by which all his former pro- 
prietary rights and privileges were reaffirmed. After 
this he appointed Sir Edmond Andross governor, and 
sent him out to take possession of the province in the 
name of the proprietor. The restoration, like the first 
and second conquests, was performed without causing 
much agitation. The people readily recognized the 
new governor, and, more mindful of their own liberties 
than careful as to who claimed possession of the prov- 
ince, they earnestly petitioned for increased privi- 
leges. They asked to be admitted to a participation 
in the government, by means of a popularly elected 
assembly. The governor was not unfavorable to the 
prayer of the petitioners, but when the matter came 
before the duke it was rejected. He had bad too 
much to do with popular assemblies nearer home to 
permit them in his proprietary dominions. He, how- 
ever, revived and confirmed the body of laws formerly 
promulgated by Colonel Nichols ; and, by a procla- 
mation, declared that " all estates and privileges pos- 
sessed prior to the conquest should continue to be 
enjoyed.'' 

§ 49. State of the province. 

A survey of the extent and resources of the province 
was made about this time, whose results indicate quite 
a favorable state of things in the infant common- 
wealth. It appeared that there were at that time, in 
all, twenty-four towns and villages in the province, of 
which sixteen were on Long Island. The city of New- 



NEW -YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 57 

York had about three hundred and fifty houses, and 
nearly three thousand inhabitants. In the entire 
province were from twelve to fifteen thousand inhabit- 
ants. The annual exports, — consisting of wheat, to- 
bacco, beef, pork, horses, lumber, and peltry, — amount- 
ed to about ;g240,000. The merchant fleet of the city 
counted three small ships, eight sloops, and seven 
boats. Agriculture was becoming the chief occupa- 
tion of the inhabitants, and even on the island of Man- 
hattan this was a principal pursuit. A fertile tract 
of land lying between what is now the Park and the 
Hudson River, formerly known as the Company's, and 
since as the Duke's Farm, began about this time to 
be an object of interest. 

The manners of the people at this period were very 
simple, even approaching to rudeness. There were 
but few servants, and fewer slaves ; yet the distinc- 
tions of ranks, especially among the Dutch, were 
jealously observed. Between the Dutch inhabitants 
and those of New-England extraction but little good- 
will prevailed ; though the superior skill and energy 
of the latter gave them, from the beginning, a deci- 
ded advantage, and at length a preponderance in both 
language and manners. 

§ 50. Andross arbitrary and unpopular. 

Andross entered upon the duties of his office on the 
last day of October, 1674, and immediately gave an 
earnest of an arbitrary administration. Among his 
first public acts he proceeded to fill the offices of 
mayor, aldermen, and sheriff, for the city, by his own 
authority — in violation of the chartered rights of tlie 
citizens, and contrary to English usages as to incor- 



58 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

porated towns. He also imposed taxes in the same 
arbitrary and objectionable manner. But the most 
impolitic, as well as intolerable, of liis usurpations 
was his interfering with the religious liberties of the 
people. From the earliest times the Churches in New- 
York had enjoyed the privilege of ordering all their 
own internal affairs, quite independent of the inter- 
ference of the government. But this was not agreea- 
able to the arbitrary maxims of Governor Andross. 
He accordingly assumed the authority to appoint min- 
isters to the several Churches in the province. This 
interference with their cherished privileges, especially 
by one who, though nominally a Protestant, was 
known to be the emissary of a confessed Papist, and 
himself no friend to the prevailing faith of the colo- 
nists, was highly distasteful to the Dutch Calvinists. 
Matters were presently brought to a crisis. The Cal- 
vinist church at Albany being vacant, the governor 
appointed a minister to it against the remonstrances 
of the congregation. No sooner had the new incum- 
bent entered upon his office than he was arrested on 
certain frivolous charges of heresy, and thrown into 
prison. The governor now interfered, and liberated 
the minister, and caused the magistrates who had 
committed him to be arrested, and to give bonds for 
their appearance to justify their conduct. One of 
them — Jacob Leisler, a name that will presently ap- 
pear again — refused to give the required recognizan- 
ces, and was committed to prison. But such was the 
popular excitement that the governor feared to pro- 
voke it further, and therefore Leisler was set at liberty, 
and the obnoxious minister, fearing for his personal 
safety, left the province. 



NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 59 

§ 5l. J. new governor — better times. 

Andross's arbitrary manner of governing was found 
wholly unsuitable to the state of feelings in New- 
York, and though he had only carried out the will of 
his master, the duke, yet it was now determined to 
remove him from an office which he was found inca- 
pable of filling to the satisfaction of either party. He 
was accordingly, in 1683, superseded by Col. Thomas 
Dongan, a Papist by profession, but still a wise and 
discreet functionary. He seems to have had just no- 
tions of the rights of all parties of the body-politic, 
whose affairs he was called to administer, and to have 
ordered his conduct with a strict regard to all such 
rights. The duke had evidently learned by this time 
that his proprietary claims did not cover the souls and 
bodies of the inhabitants of his province, and that in 
all matters of political administration they were to be 
taken into the account as something more than passive 
parties. A change of policy was evinced by the fact, 
that the new governor brought with him a new "char- 
ter of liberties,'^ providing that " supreme legislative 
power shall forever reside in the governor, council, 
and people, met in general assembly : every freeholder 
and freeman shall vote for representatives without 
restraint: no freeman shall suffer but by judgment 
of his peers ; and all trials shall be by a jury of 
twelve men : no tax shall be assessed, on any pre- 
tense whatever, but by the consent of the assembly' : 
no martial law shall exist: no person professing faith 
in God by Jesus Christ shall, at any time, be in any 
ways disquieted or questioned for any difference of 
opinion." An assembly was soon after convened 



60 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

agreeably to the provisions of the new charter, con- 
sisting of seventeen deputies from the principal towns 
in the province, together with ten council-men, and 
the governor. Some salutary laws were enacted, the 
necessary supplies were cheerfully voted, and all things 
proceeded pleasantly. The people were greatly pleased 
with the new arrangement of affairs, and everything 
seemed bright in the future. 

§ 52. New -York becomes a royal 'province. 

The death of Charles II. of England occurred on the 
6th of February, 1685, and despite of the most violent 
opposition of a portion of the lords and commons, 
previously made to him as a Papist, the Duke of York 
quietly ascended the throne with the title of James II. 
By this change of the incumbent of the English throne 
a greater change occurred in the political relations of 
the province of New -York than in those of other por- 
tions of the British empire ; since while these only 
received a new sovereign, that became also a royal 
province. The new sovereign now forwarded a royal 
commission to Governor Dongan, granting him powers 
wholly inconsistent with the " charter of liberties," 
and directing him to administer the government with- 
out the aid of assemblies. He was also especially in- 
structed to allow no printing in the province. These 
oppressive measures produced much dissatisfaction, 
which was increased by the remembrance that both 
the king and the governor were acknowledged Papists 
— a sect against whom the popular prejudice was very 
strong, and who were justly looked upon as unsafe 
keepers of the civil and religious liberties of a Prot- 
estant commonwealth. It was, however, conceded by 



NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 61 

all parties that Dongan was truly a gentleman in his 
manners, a man of integrity, and a good governor. 

§ 53. Livingston's Manor erected. 

Among the memorable acts of this governor was the 
erection of the last of the manorial estates founded in 
New -York. Eobert Livingston, a Scotchman by birth, 
had, several years previous, come as an adventurer 
into the province, where he had, by marriage, become 
connected with both the Schuyler and Van Eensselaer 
families. To this individual was now granted a feudal 
principality on the Hudson, beginning about five miles 
below the present city of Hudson, and reaching twelve 
miles down the river, and backward with increasing 
breadth to the Massachusetts line. This was the 
foundation of the celebrated Livingston Manor, to this 
day a subject of interested consideration. Livingston 
himself acted a conspicuous part in the affairs of the 
province in his own times ; and among his descendants 
have been some of the most illustrious names in the 
annals of the country. 

§ 54. Dongan replaced hy Andross. 

Andross, whose unpopular administration in New- 
York has been already noticed, was afterward made 
governor of Massachusetts. Though he had been put 
out of office by the duke for his unfitness to manage 
the affairs of the province, yet, now that the duke had 
become king, it was determined again to try the more 
arbitrary rules of government, and therefore no other 
agent was so well fitted to his purpose as Sir Edmond 
Andross. To give him the fullest possible sway, all 
the colonies, from Pennsylvania eastward, were placed 



62 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

under his authority. This was of course highly grat- 
ifying to the ambition of Andross ; and not less so to 
his malice, as it afforded him an opportunity to he 
avenged upon Dongan, whom he could never forgive 
for having been the passive agent of his removal from 
the government of New -York. Of course Dongan was 
displaced as soon as possible after the power came into 
the hands of Andross, and Francis Nicholson was made 
lieutenant-governor in his stead. These changes in 
the affairs of the province were highly unsatisfactory 
to the people of the province, and especially to those 
of the city of New -York, who saw in them the precur- 
sors of greater troubles to come. But a change was 
at hand. 

§ 55. A revolution in England — Leisler. 

Early in the spring of 1689 a rumor reached Ameri- 
ca that the king had been dethroned, and succeeded 
by William of Orange. The news was everywhere 
received with the most enthusiastic joy, and nowhere 
more so than in the city of New -York. Of course the 
power of the royal governor was extinguished, nor did 
he make his appearance to either disclaim or to exer- 
cise his authority. All government was therefore at 
an end. The commissions of the magistrates were 
defunct, and no king was proclaimed. The only mili- 
tary force in the city consisted of five companies of 
militia, of which Nicholas Bayard was colonel, and 
Jacob Leisler senior captain. Bayard belonged to the 
aristocracy of the city, and did not enjoy the confi- 
dence of the people generally, being suspected of 
favoring the arbitrary measures of Andross's admin- 
istration. He was not, therefore, the man to whom 



NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 63 

the minds of the people would turn in the present 
emergency, nor was he forward to become a popular 
leader. Shortly after the receipt of the news of the 
revolution in England, a rumor of a plot to massacre 
all the friends of the Prince of Orange obtained cur- 
rency among the excited populace. The people at 
once flew to arms, and rushing to the house of Leis- 
ler, demanded that he should take the direction of 
public affairs. Leisler hesitated, and called to his 
counsel several principal citizens, who strongly urged 
him to comply with the ix)pular request, as the only 
means to avoid great confusion and probably blood- 
shed. Thus pressed, he at length assented, and, at 
the head of the militia, took possession of the fort and 
the public stores. A covenant was drawn up, and 
signed by the militia to the number of about four 
hundred, pledging themselves to each other to hold 
the fort " for the present Protestant power that rules 
in England ;'^ and a committee of safety, in behalf of 
the citizens at large, appointed Leisler "Captain of 
the Fort,'^ with large powers as provisional governor. 
Having caused William of Orange to be proclaimed 
king, Leisler addressed a letter to the new sovereign, 
setting forth the grounds of his proceedings, and ac- 
counting for the public money that had come into his 
hands. 

§ 56. Leisler acts as governor. 

Things soon assumed much of their usual quiet. 
Nicholson, seeing that Leisler was supported by the 
people generally, took the advice of his council and 
sailed for England. The members of the late council, 
among whom were Bayard, Livingston, and Van Cort- 



64 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

landt, fled to Albany, where, being sustained by 
Scbuyler and Van Rensselaer, tbey set up a rival 
government, professing indeed great zeal for the new 
sovereign, but denouncing Leisler as an arcbrebel. 

In December following, a royal letter came to New- 
York, addressed to " such as for the time being rule 
in New -York," and inclosing a commission for Nichol- 
son as governor. But as he was already on his way 
to England, Leisler and his friends construed that 
letter as a confirmation of his power in the office he 
then occupied. He therefore assumed the title of 
lieutenant-governor, and immediately issued warrants 
for the arrest of Bayard and his associates at Albany. 
In these rash proceedings Leisler was stimulated and 
directed by Melbourne, his son-in-law, who was now 
sent to Albany to demand the surrender of that place 
to the authority of Leisler as lieutenant-governor ^f 
the province. Not content with thus establishing his 
own pretensions, Leisler caused the late council-men 
to be arrested and thrown into prison, and their estates 
to be confiscated. Having by these violent measures 
put down all opposition in the province, the plebeian 
governor next directed his attention to the foreign 
relations of his realm. The French king having 
espoused the cause of the banished king of England, 
a state of war existed between the two kingdoms, 
which, of course, extended to their dependencies in 
America. Leisler was too zealous for the cause of the 
new government of England to remain inactive in 
such a state of things. Preparations were imme- 
diately made to prosecute the war against Canada, 
and an assembly was called to perfect the arrange- 
ments and grant the necessary supplies. An expe- 



NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 65 

dition was accordingly fitted out against the French, 
who had already made a hostile demonstration upon 
the horders of Lake Champlain ; but it resulted in 
only partial success, and became an occasion of great 
complaints on the part of Leisler's enemies. 

§ 57. Leisler superseded. 

While these things were going forward on this side 
of the Atlantic, Leisler's letter to King William had 
gone forward and reached its destination. But the 
king was too much occupied with matters nearer home 
to pay much attention to the affairs of a distant and 
unimportant colony. In the mean time the enemies 
of Leisler, failing to defeat him at home, had under- 
taken to prepossess the mind of the sovereign against 
his faithful but injudicious servant, now acting the 
part of governor in New -York. Leisler's letter was 
accordingly left unanswered, and Col. Henry Sloughter 
was sent out with a commission as royal governor of 
New-York, and a company of soldiers for the defense 
of the province. The new governor and the soldiers 
embarked in different vessels, and that bearing the 
soldiers arrived first. Ingoldsby, the captain of the 
company, was, on his arrival, received by the enemies 
of Leisler, and immediately brought to their partisan 
views and antipathies. He accordingly refused to 
recognize the existing government, and, as he bore the 
king's commission, he demanded the command of the 
fort. Leisler refused to surrender the fort except to the 
order of the governor, which Ingoldsby could not pro- 
duce. The acting governor, however, made a procla- 
mation, recognizing Sloughter as governor, and direct- 
ing Ingoldsby's soldiers to be provided for at the ex- 



66 CITY OF NEV/-YORK. 

pense of the city. Six weeks passed before tlie arrival 
of the governor, during which time the fort was in a 
state of siege, and several lives were lost in the skir- 
mishes between the two parties. Sloughter at length 
arrived, and at once fell into the same snare that had 
before entangled Ingoldsbj. He immediately sent his 
captain to demand the surrender of the fort ; but as 
the order was only a verbal one, of course it was not 
obeyed. The next step was to arrest Leisler and his 
council for high treason. 

§ 58. An affair of treason. 

Governor Sloughter became entirely the instrument 
of Leisler's most implacable enemies, who did not fail 
to use their power for his ruin. A special court was 
instituted for the trial of the prisoners, though the 
power of the provincial government did not extend to 
cases of high treason. Before this mock-court the 
forms of a trial, in the cases of Leisler and Mel- 
bourne, were gone through, and the prisoners pro- 
nounced guilty, and sentenced to be hung. No de- 
fense was attempted, since the court was wholly with- 
out authority in the premises, and when sentence was 
pronounced an appeal was taken to the king. Sloughter 
was in favor of allowing the appeal, and therefore re- 
fused to order the execution of the convicts ; but those 
who were about him were in haste for the blood of 
their victims. The governor desired the assembly, 
then in session, to advise a temporary reprieve ; but 
as that body was made up of violent partisans of the 
ruling faction, it was not done — and on every side' 
were heard demands for the execution of the prisoners, 
as a measure essential to the peace and safety of the 



NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. ^7 

province. Still the governor hesitated to proceed so 
far, in the very face of the law and the usages of the 
English courts. But where persuasion and intimida- 
tion had been tried in vain, stratagem and fraud were 
more successful. A public dinner was given for that 
express purpose, at which the governor was made 
drunk, and while in that situation made to affix his 
name to warrants for the execution of the prisoners : 
then he was put to bed at a. late hour of the night in 
a state of beastly intoxication, and before he arose the 
next day the fatal work was accomplished. The gallows 
on which these victims of treachery and party violence 
sufiFered stood beyond the city, just below the lower 
part of the Common — a little to the east of the site of 
St. PauFs church. Leisler met his fate with a good 
degree of firmness. He confessed that in his public 
career he had erred through a variety of inevitable 
causes, but died protesting his loyalty, and the integ- 
rity of his purposes in what he had done. Melbourne 
was a man of a more violent spirit, and on the scaffold, 
seeing Livingston in the crowd, who had come out to 
gratify his malice by beholding the death of his ene- 
mies, he called out, " Kobert Livingston ! for this I 
will implead you at the bar of God !'^ The time be- 
tween the signing of the death-warrants and the exe- 
cution was but a few hours of the latter part of the 
night and the early morning: yet the news of the 
intended tragedy was widely circulated, and though 
the rain fell in torrents, nearly the whole town turned 
out to witness the sad spectacle. When the bodies 
.were taken down, the multitude rushed greedily for- 
ward to obtain some last mementoes of their faithful 
leaders — shreds of their clothing or locks of their hair. 



68 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

So died the first popular governor of the province of 
New -York. 

§ 59. Character of Leisler. 

This subject ought not to be dismissed without some 
further notice of the character of Leisler. Of his 
honesty, and the sincerity of his devotion to the cause 
of the people and of the late revolution in England, 
there is no cause at all to doubt. It is equally evident 
that his capacity was not equal to the work he took 
in hand. He was a man of much energy of character, 
but of moderate abilities, and possessed of but small 
advantages of early education. He belonged to the 
plebeian order of society, and his sympathies were with 
the common people, and of course he was hated by 
those who claimed a birthright to superiority. When 
the supreme power fell into his hands he proved him- 
self unequal to the trust, and became dizzy by reason 
of his sudden elevation. The power that he should 
have used to conciliate his powerful adversaries was 
foolishly wasted in irritating them by needless and un- 
called-for severities. The feud thus commenced con- 
tinued to distract the province long after his death, 
and at last that justice was awarded to his reputation 
and his family that was then denied to himself. 

§ 60. Sloughter^s administration. 

Such was the inauspicious beginning of Sloughter's 
administration of the government of New- York. He 
arrived in the province on the 18th of March. The 
drunken bout and judicial murder just detailed are 
the only acts related of him during his stay in the 
city. Not long after these events he made a visit to 
Albany, from which place he returned in July; and 



NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 69 

soon after terminated, by a sadden death, a weak, tur- 
bulent, and sanguinary administration of four months 
— the most dishonorable to all concerned in the annals 
of the province. 

§ 61. Governor Fletcher — reforms attempted. 

By the death of Sloughter the government devolved 
upon Captain Ingoldsby, as the president of the coun- 
cil. But the next year (1692) a new governor arrived 
from England. This was Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, 
who is described as " a good soldier, active, avaricious, 
and passionate.'^ He seems to have entered upon the 
duties of his office with a sincere purpose to discharge 
them faithfully, according to his views of what be- 
longed to his position. His attention was directed 
especially to the religious wants of the province ; and 
as he was very zealous for the Church of England, he 
endeavored to introduce a supply of ministers and 
schoolmasters of that Church, so as to bring over the 
people to a uniformity of religion and language. At 
his solicitation, the assembly appropriated money for 
building and endowing churches in various parts of 
the province ; but, much against his wish, they granted 
to the several parishes thus endowed the privilege of 
choosing their own ministers. Trinity Church, in 
New -York, was among those erected under this pro- 
vision, and through the influence of the officers and 
dependents of the .government, it was, from the first, 
maintained as a parish of the Established Church of 
England. The other endowed Churches also, though 
contrary to the designs of the assembly, passed, one af- 
ter another, into the hands of the same sect. Governor 
Fletcher was ' not a favorite with any considerable 



70 CITY OF NEW- YORK. 

class of the people of New -York, and his administra- 
tion, though much better than many that had preceded 
it, was not a popular one. Nor was it more satisfac- 
tory to the home government. He was accused of 
permitting, from interested motives, certain violations 
of the "act of trade," to the prejudice of the royal 
revenues ; nor did he escape suspicion of favoring, 
for a like reason, the pirates that then infested the 
American seas. He was, therefore, recalled, after 
having filled the office of governor for more than four 
years. 

§ 62. The pirates — Captain Kidd. 

The piracies of this period form an important item 
in the history of those times, and especially as to the 
city of New -York. Such were the depredations com- 
mitted by these robbers of the seas, that it was found 
necessary to adopt some active measures for their ex- 
tirpation. For that purpose a joint-stock company 
was formed, composed chiefly of merchants, both En- 
glish and American, to purchase and fit out a ship of 
war to cruise against the freebooters. The command 
of this vessel was given to Captain Robert Kidd, a 
well-known American ship-master. His crew was 
chiefly selected by himself, in New -York, and, as was 
afterward believed, not without reference to the de- 
sign to which the whole enterprise was finally per- 
verted. "With this ship and crew Kidd was for a long 
time the terror of the seas; and b3ihis piracies he be- 
came more infamous than did Dr. Faustus by making 
Bibles, or even Bluebeard by murdering his wives. 
Scarce a bay or headland along the Atlantic coast, 
from Maine to Florida, is without its legend of Captain 
Kidd, the pirate, and his buried treasures. 



NEW-YORK AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. 71 

It is supposed that he frequented many of the 
bays and islands toward the eastern part of Long 
Island Sound, as well as along the south-eastern 
coast of Massachusetts. Among the latter, are 
Kidd's Island and Money Island, on one of which is 
" Kidd's Cave," where the legends of the credulous 
say the pirates were accustomed to reside when in this 
part of the world. It is not improbable that these 
desolate regions were sometimes the resort and lurk- 
ing-places of the buccaneers of those times, though it 
is very uncertain whether Kidd ever visited them. 
Doubts have been expressed whether ELidd was not 
unjustly accused of piratical practices; but it can 
scarcely be believed that so notorious a matter could 
have been so universally credited at the time with- 
out some good and sufficient evidence, though the 
thing is possible. 

§ 63. Lord Bellemont, Governor. 

The active efforts made against Kidd, previous to 
the time now under notice, had driven him from the 
ocean, and it was suspected that he was lurking some- 
where in the American colonies. Lord Bellemont, 
the governor of Massachusetts, who had been a large 
stockholder in the company that sent Kidd abroad, 
was directed to make diligent search for him. To 
facilitate this business, he was made governor of New- 
York after Fletcher's removal, and also directed to 
investigate the charges that had been laid ao;ainst his 
predecessor. He was also especially directed to en- 
force, with exactness and fidelity, the " act of trade." 



72 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 64. Bellemont and the Leislerians. 

In tlie British parliament Lord Bellemont had taken 
a lively interest in the reversal of the attainder of 
Leisler ; and accordingly, when he came to New -York, 
he naturally fell among the friends of that unfortu- 
nate chief. He, therefore, ordered the hones of Leis- 
ler and Melbourne to be disinterred, and, after lying 
in state for some days, they were reinterred with great 
pomp in the Dutch church. An assembly was con- 
vened, in which the Leislerians had a majority, and 
everywhere that party was in the ascendant. An in- 
demnity was voted to Leisler's heirs, and certain " ex- 
travagant grants of lands," made by Sloughter, were 
declared void. It was also provided by this assembly 
that no governor should alienate, for a longer period 
than his own term of ojffice, " the King's Farm, the 
King's Garden, the Swamp, and the Fresh Water." 
After remaining in New -York about a year. Lord 
Bellemont returned to Boston, where he was no less a 
favorite than in the Dutch capital. Soon after, he 
returned again to New -York, wliere a sudden death 
put an end to a happy and successful, though brief 
administration. He was buried in Trinity Church- 
yard, where his grave remains to the present day. 



INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN. 73 

CHAPTEE IV. 

INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN— 1675-1700. 

§ 65. A view of the city in 1677. 

The growth of New -York city during the whole of 
the seventeenth century was steady hut not rapid. 
In 1677 an enumeration of all the tenements in the 
city was made, which showed an aggregate of three 
hundred and eighty-four dwellings of all classes. 
The progress of the city for the first sixty years 
of its existence is thus shown to have heen only a 
little more than six houses for each year. The loca- 
tion of the houses hy streets did not vary materially 
from the plan of the city noticed in a former chapter. 
Pearl-street still had the greatest numher of dwell- 
ings ; hut hetween this street and the East Kiver was 
a helt of land of sufficient hreadth to admit a row of 
houses to he placed there. This of course hecame a 
favorite location with the amphibious Hollanders, and 
at this enumeration no less than forty-eight houses 
were set down to " the water-side," — the future Water- 
street. Broadway had also advanced very considera- 
bly, and now contained some fifty dwellings ; while 
on the extreme east side of the town, " Smith's Vley,'' 
or valley, (now William-street,) was becoming a well- 
occupied street. The city wall was maintained with 
much care, as the great safeguard of the inhabitants 
against foreign enemies. 

§ 66. Wards of the city. 

At this period the city was divided into seven wards. 
The West ward included the streets immediately about 

4 



74 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

the fort, on "both sides of Broadway, and the shore of 
the Hudson Eiver. The North ward lay to the east 
of this, and west of the canal, and came as far south 
as the fort. South ward lay directly helow this, and 
was the wealthiest portion of the city. Yet further 
south was Dock ward — also a rich locality. These 
last two wards contained more than half of the entire 
property of Manhattan Island. East ward lay in the 
region of Smith's Yley and the Countess's Key, — now 
Coenties-slip. The five wards covered the whole area 
of the city within the wall ; but just beyond that bul- 
wark, and extending some miles outward, was the Out 
ward ; and still further northward, embracing the 
upper portion of the island, was Sarlem ward. Each 
of these portions of the city was entitled to an alder- 
man in the city council. 

§ 67. Laws and ordinances. 

The city fathers, at that primitive period, appear 
to have exercised a truly paternal care over their 
municipal charge. It was ordered that "the watch 
should be set at eight o'clock every evening, after 
ringing the bell, and the gates locked at nine, and 
opened again at daylight." To prevent the possibility 
of a surprise by the Indians, it was directed that *' every 
citizen should have a musket, and powder and balls, 
constantly in readiness for use." Especial care was 
taken that the city should be properly provided with 
public houses; and as if there was danger that there 
would be some lack of regard to the wants of those 
for whom such houses are provided, it was further 
ordered that " all persons who keep public houses shall 
sell beere, as well as wyne and other liquors, and keep 



INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN. 75 

lodgings for strangers/^ and a tariff of prices for each 
article of refreshment was fixed hy authority. To 
facilitate building, it was ordered that " the land in 
the city convenient to build on, if the parties who own 
the same do not speedily build thereon, may be valued 
and sold to those who are willing to build." The 
streets were to be cleaned every Saturday, and the 
carmen were required to carry away the dirt, or for- 
feit their license. No butchering was allowed to be 
done within the city, but a public slaughter-house 
was built over the water, beyond the wall, in " the 
Smith's Vley.'^ To the denizens of this metropolis 
such laws as these read strangely. This was probably 
that " good old time " so often referred to by queru- 
lous old people. 

§ 68. Enlargement of the city. 

In 1676 a law was passed providing for paving 
some of the principal streets. That now known as 
Whitehall-street was the first to receive this attention. 
Soon after the great canal was ordered to be filled up, 
and changed to a street, and named Broad-street, 
which was also immediately paved. Previous to this 
the water had come up to Garden-street, (now Ex- 
change Place,) and, the ferry-boats landed their pas- 
sengers near the upper part of the canal. A few years 
after, a street was opened between this and Broadway, 
called New-street, by Adrian Waters, for which con- 
tribution to the public interest he was exempted from 
paying .taxes for six years. "Beaver graft'' was also 
doomed to the same treatment that had been awarded 
to "de Heere graft," and the road in the Smith's 
Vley was regulated and paved as a street of the city. 



76 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 69. Regulations of trade. 

The tendency to clierisli monopolies was, from an 
early period, strongly exhibited in the affairs of the 
city. Trade was accounted a peculiar privilege, that 
only " freemen " might enjoy ; and the privileges of 
freemen were granted only on certain carefully guard- 
ed conditions. The price paid by a merchant for the 
"freedom of the city'' was six heavers. None but 
freemen of three years' standing were allowed to trade 
up the Hudson, and only those of New -York city could 
trade over sea. The shipping of the port amounted, 
in 1683, to about thirty sailing vessels, and nearly 
fifty open boats. The number of carmen was fixed 
by law at " twenty, and no more." 

§ 70. Thejlour monopoly. 

But of all the monopolies enjoyed by the citizens, 
to the exclusion of the country people, that of bolting 
and packing flour was at once the most valuable to 
the former and oppressive to the latter. A consider- 
able trade in flour with the West Indies had grown 
up, of which the farmers in the interior had gladly 
availed themselves for disposing of their surplus crops. 
It so happened, however, that a large portion of the 
profits of this trade came to the millers and the mer- 
chants of the city, who bought the wheat of the farm- 
ers, and converted it into flour for transportation. 
No mill was allowed to be erected out of the city for 
making flour for market, and the packing of flour was 
forbidden to all but the city millers. Against this 
oppressive monopoly the country people remonstrated 
long and loudly ; and as the provincial assembly was 



INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN. 77 

composed chiefly of country members, it was at length 
abolished. This, however, was not effected without a 
severe struggle, and only against loud and earnest 
remonstrances on the part of the city people, who seem 
to have been persuaded that the perpetuation of their 
peculiar privileges was essential to the prosperity, if 
not indeed to the very existence, of the city. 

§ 71. Further extension of the town. 
From the facts stated in the petition of the city 
corporation to the assembly against the repeal of the 
*' flour monopoly," some notion of the growth of the 
city may be obtained. It is evident, however, that in 
their zeal to prove the great value of the trade in 
question, the city fathers rather over-estimate the 
attainments of the city. They state that at the be- 
ginning of the trade, in 1678, only three hundred and 
eighty-four houses were found in the city ; the annual 
revenue was not over two thousand pounds ; and there 
were only three ships, seven boats, and eight sloops 
owned in the city. But at that time, when the trade 
had been in progress sixteen years, there were sixty 
ships, forty boats, and twenty-five sloops. The reve- 
nue had also increased to five thousand pounds per 
year; and there were nine hundred and eighty-three 
houses, of which not less than two-thirds depended on 
the flour-trade. But although the petition in favor 
of the monopoly did not succeed, the city survived the 
shock ; and though its growth was afterward less rapid, 
it was quite as favorable to the general interest. 

§ 72. A dangerous rival. 
About this time New -York was threatened with a 
formidable rivalry from the opposite side of the Hud- 



78 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

son. The people of New-Jersey found it quite too 
difficult for them to go all the way to New -York 
to do their trading, especially as the passage of the 
river was always tedious and often dangerous, and 
so a market was set up on their own side. This he- 
came a cause of alarm to the New-Yorkers. Com- 
plaints were made that " trade and revenue had suf- 
fered," and fears were expressed that New -York would 
he greatly injured hy the " diversion of trade " to the 
west side of the river. 

§ 73. Progress of " Breukeleny 

A town had heen planted just across the East Eiver 
at an early period of the history of New-Netherland, 
which, from the unevenness of the surface of the sur- 
rounding country, was called Breukelen, or Broken- 
land, a name since softened into the less significant 
but more euphonious word Brooklyn. This town 
was regarded more favorably than that on the shore 
of New-Jersey, and was treated rather as a younger 
sister than a dangerous rival. By an early regula- 
tion of the corporation of New -York, cooperating with 
the authorities of Brooklyn, " a fayre and market was 
held in Breukelen on the first Monday, Tuesday, and 
Wednesday, and in New -York on the three succeeding 
days." A regular ferry between the two places had 
been maintained for many years, under the control 
of the corporation of New -York. The rates of fer- 
riage were fixed by law, — " for a single person eight 
stivers, in wampumy or a silver twopence ; each per- 
son in company, half that price ; or if after sunset, 
double price." This ferry at an early period became 
a source of revenue to the city. For several years pre- 



INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN. 79 

vious to 1698 it was rented out at one hundred and 
forty pounds a 3^ear ; and that year it was leased 
for seven years, at an annual rent of one hundred and 
sixty-five pounds. The lessee, in this case, was the 
celebrated Kip Van Dam, an individual who figured 
largely in his times in the afiairs of both the city and 
the province. 

§ 74. Sales of city lots. 

The large increase of houses in the city, noticed in 
a former section, necessarily caused an increased de- 
mand for building lots, and accordingly we find fre- 
quent mention of sales of public property for that 
purpose. A few years previous to the time now under 
notice, a portion of the old buryiug-ground in Broad- 
way was ordered to be laid out in lots of twenty-five 
feet front, and " sold at public outcry." This is the 
first case on record of the sale of real estate at auction 
in this city. In 1689 fourteen lots, " near the Coun- 
tess's Quay,'' were sold at auction for about thirty-five 
pounds each, and eleven others at twenty-seven pounds 
each. A little later public surveyors were appointed 
to lay out streets and lots ; and frequent grants of 
land were made by the corporation for trifling con- 
siderations. In the early part of the year 1692, it 
was directed that " all lands in front of the Vley, from 
the block-house to Mr. Beekman's, be sold : — the lots 
between the block-house and the Green-lane (Maiden- 
lane) at twenty-five shillings per foot ; and those from 
the Green-lane to Mrs. Van Clyfi^'s, at eighteen shil- 
lings per foot." These lots were accordingly offered at 
those rates, but found no purchasers — the prices being 
thought above their value. Soon afterward, however, 



80 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

twenty-three lots on the Vley were sold at auction at 
an average rate of about twenty-six pounds each ; a 
lot at the end of Broad-street was valued at eighty 
pounds. About this time wharves were built at the 
foot of King (Pine) street, and of Maiden-lane, ex- 
tending out from high-water mark, which was then 
nearly up to William-street. 

§ 75. Outside localities. 

With the increase of the city, two places of some 
importance beyond the city wall began to come into 
notice. One of these was the residence of Mrs. Van 
Clyff, who seems to have kept a public house, on 
Smith-street, near the present corner of John and 
William-streets. A lane was opened between the two 
leading highways, now William and Pearl-streets, 
which, on the early maps of the city, is called Van 
Clyff-street, — this now constitutes a part of John- 
street. At a much later period, her name, with a 
modernized orthography, was given to a street lead- 
ing from her residence to " the Swamp." 

The other was the farm and residence of William 
Beekman. His house stood upon a gentle eminence 
to the west of the Swamp. Mr. Beekman was among 
the most considerable citizens of his times, — was sev- 
eral times chosen alderman of his ward, — and was the 
proprietor of a large tract of ground in that neigh- 
borhood, including " the Swamp," and reaching up to 
"the Common." As early as 1656, a controversy 
arose between himself and some of the citizens, who 
claimed the right of driving their cattle across his 
lands. The case at length came before the city coun- 
cil, where the defendants showed " that it had been 



INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN. 81 

customary with them to herd their cattle every year 
on the Common, and there had been a right of way 
there before their time." This defense was deemed 
satisfactory, and the right of way was thus established. 
A lane was afterward fenced across the farm, long 
known as Beekman^s lane, for the use of those enjoy- 
ing the right of way to the Common. This was the 
beginning of Beekman-street, which, however, was not 
opened and regulated as a public thoroughfare till 
nearly a hundred years later. 

In 1696, Teunis De Kay petitioned the corporation 
for leave "to open a carte way" from the head of 
Broad-street toward the city Common, "by the pye- 
woman's," — offering to do all the work necessary at 
his own expense, if he could have " the soil." Proba- 
bly at that time there was an opening in the wall at 
the head of Broad-street, allowing the egress and in- 
gress of teams and vehicles, as it is known there was 
no gate at that place. The petition was granted, and 
the beginning of Nassau-street was the result. At 
first, indicating the professed design of the projector 
of the enterprise, it was called " Horse-and-cart-street," 
and afterward " Kip-street," till it received its present 
name. 

§ 76. Defenses of the city. 

In Governor Dongan's report to the Board of Trade, 
in England, dated in 1697, he complains of a want of 
adequate defenses for the city. It is probable that 
his excellency was not more in dread of foreign ene- 
mies than of his own people, who, he says, were "grow- 
ing every day more numerous, and are generally of a 
turbulent disposition." He describes the principal 

4* 



82 CITY or NEW-YORK. 

fdrt as " well situated for tlie defense of the harbor, 
on a point made by the junction of the Hudson Eiver 
and the Sound." It had thirty-nine guns, and two 
mortar pieces, with the necessary ammunitions and 
military stores. The inland side of the city had for 
fifty years been protected by the city wall, — a stock- 
ade of timbers and heavy planks, that extended along 
the line of the present Wall-street from the East River 
to Broadway, and thence to the Hudson River, and 
down its bank to the point of rocks below the fort. 
This wall was originally built to protect the city from 
the Indians, and was now becoming somewhat neglect- 
ed, and soon after was entirely removed. 

Agreeably to the suggestions of the governor, ad- 
ditional fortifications were soon afterward erected at 
prominent points around the city. At the foot of 
Winchell-street was a battery of fifteen guns, called 
Whitehall, which name was also soon after given to 
the street. Leyster's Half-moon stood on the Hudson, 
near the fort. The State-house battery, of five guns, 
was at the eastern extremity of the mole and dock, 
and directly in front of the State-house. The Burgh- 
ers' battery, of ten guns, stood at the eastern extremity 
of the wall ; and the North-western block-house at its 
junction with the Hudson River. At the city gates, 
on Broadway and Smith-street, were guard-houses of 
stone for the defense of the gates, which served also 
for keepers' lodges. 

§ 77. Public edifices. 

The public buildings of the city were, at this period, 
neither numerous nor of imposing appearances. The 
State-house (stadt-haus) stood at the corner of Dock- 




/ TheCJiafieJin (ItrFortor yeiA'ork 

2. Ijcystfrs hj^f mjooM 

■i- Whitrhall Battet-v oflS gitjis 

4 77m- OM Dock 

S- Tht Cige a»/i i'tofhs 

6. Slatti ffaixr ha/tei\vof-7 rjirni,- 

7 Tie Slad^ or StaJe HoaSi- 

8- The Cuslom House 

9. The Bridge 

I' 10 Barghrrs OT tit^ Slip bcU/eryot' /O^'. 
//. The Slaughter Houses 
72 . Tht ne»- Dock^s- 
J3 The French Chitrch 
H Tlve Jews- f^ynayoqne 

15 The Fort, n>U d,iA Fnmp 

16 EUelf aJlev 

17 The n'orksonlhe KSideofdiet ify 
18, Thu 7u>rlh K'eyf blockhoiixe 



the y Sid f 
oF-the Cifv 
2/ 72m- Dutch Calvin^til^l^i. 

21 - 77r Duh-h CaUiuiH 

■TiiniisH'rS' Hons-r. I 

Z? The luiyiivn J\ 

qi-oiuid . 
2i Hi'idmiU . 
23 The U'tiicf.y Farm . 
26. Cot . Hii itgrmi- qai-deu . 
27,27, lt'f//s- 



'2S The plot of Orouuddeiig 
uedfnr dir m i I lister /foil y e 

19 29, 7'heStur/caJe with a 
httjtJc oFertTth on the tnsg.i/e 

M3l T/teCdy Oidar 

AZ, .-Ipartfrii Qu/e 



IITH- CF SAf^ON Y KtMAIO^.-N 



INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN. 83 

street and the Countess's Key. This building was sold 
and diverted to private uses in 1699, and was succeed 
ed by the new City Hall, erected soon afterward, at the 
head of Broad-street. The State-house was the center 
of municipal affairs. In front of it were the stocks, 
the cage, and the ducking-stool — instruments for the 
correction of minor offenses. The Custom-house was 
also on Dock-street, a little farther to the west. At 
the foot of King (now Pine) street were abattoirs, or 
public slaughter-houses, already spoken of. 

Of places of worship — the French (Huguenot) church 
stood on the south side of Beaver-street, midw^ay be- 
tween Broadway and Broad-street. The Jews' syna- 
gogue was similarly situated on Mill-street. In the 
fort was the king's chapel, which was also used as an 
English church ; and the Dutch Calvinists had a church 
on Garden-street, just east of Broad-street. Trinity 
church was erected on the spot still occupied by its 
successor about the close of this j)ei'iod. Just above 
this church was a piece of ground set apart for the 
site of the parsonage, and beyond this were the build- 
ings belonging to the King's Farm. Between these 
buildings and the river was the windmill — one of the 
most important appendages of the city — and on the op- 
posite side of Broadway was Governor Do ngan's garden. 

§ 78. A view of the city. 

From an examination of a map of the city of New- 
York, dated in 1695, it appears that all within the 
city wall was then pretty closely occupied with build- 
ings. Broadway was reckoned the west side of the 
city, as there was no street between it and the river, 
except a path along the stockade. Outside of the 



$4 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

wall two streets were laid out to the west of Broad- 
way, but they were not yet occupied. On the east 
side of the town Great Queen (Pearl) street skirted 
the East Eiver, leaving outside of it the space between 
high and low-water marks. On the south were the 
" Wet Docks," inclosed by a mole reaching from the 
point of rocks below the fort, in a curve, to a point 
near the State-house, within which the shipping were 
sheltered from winds and currents. Beyond the wall, 
along Great Queen-street and the Smith's Vley, were 
several houses erected, and a number of buildings were 
scattered over the open space toward Broadway, up as 
far as the Green-lane. The population of the city had 
increased at this time to over four thousand, and at 
the ratio of nearly one hundred per cent, in twenty- 
five years. 

The aspect of the city of New -York, as it was a 
hundred and fifty years ago, would now be esteemed 
strangely rude and grotesque. The whole number of 
houses was less than a thousand, and these were very 
different things from their successors of the present 
time. They were constructed principally of wood, and 
were of the rudest workmanship — one or two stories 
high, with sharp roofs, and with their gable-ends to 
the streets. A few were of brick covered with tiles — 
materials brought from Europe. The streets were 
narrow, crooked, and irregular ; they were thronged 
with swine and dogs ; in summer they were over- 
grown with weeds, and in winter obstructed with ice 
or mud. 

^ 79. Character of the inhahitants. 

In the report of Governor Dongan, already referred 
to, there is also a statement as to the composition of 



INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN. 86 

society in the province. " For the last seven years," 
he writes, (that is, from 1680,) "there have not come 
over to this province twenty English, Scotch, or Irish 
families. On Long Island, the people increase so fast 
that they complain for want of land, and many re- 
move thence to the neighboring provinces. Several 
French families have lately come from the West 
Indies, and from England, and a great many more 
are expected, and also several Dutch families from 
Holland, so that the number of foreigners greatly 
exceeds the king's natural-born subjects.'^ 

The French immigrants here spoken of were chiefly 
exiled Huguenots, who had fled from their own country 
to escape the persecution that followed the repeal of 
the edict of Nantes, by which religious liberty had 
been secured to the Protestants. Many of these im- 
migrants remained permanently in the city, and con- 
stituted a valuable portion of its early population. 
Others located themselves at New-Eochelle, at Haver- 
straw, and on Staten Island, where they constituted 
orderly and valuable communities, out of which have 
arisen some of the best families and most eminent 
citizens of the province and State of New -York. 

^ 80. Morals and religion. 

Governor Dongan's statement of the religious con- 
dition of the city is not very flattering, though prob- 
ably as much so as the state of the case would justify. 
Of ministers, there was a chaplain belonging to the 
fort of the Church of England, a Dutch Calvinist, a 
French Calvinist, and a Lutheran, in the city. Of 
the ecclesiastical distribution of the inliabitants, he 
remarks, " There are not many of the Church of En- 



86 CITY OF NEW- YORK. 

gland, few Catholics, abundance of Quaker preachers, 
men and women, especially singing Quakers, ranting 
Quakers, Sabbatarians, Anti-Sabbatarians, some Ana- 
baptists, some Independents, some Jews ; in short, of 
all sorts of opinions there are some, and the most part 
of none at all. The most prevailing opinion is that 
of the Dutch Calvinists. It is the endeavor of all 
persons here to bring up their children and servants 
in that opinion which themselves profess, but I observe 
thej take no care for the conversion of their slaves." 

^81. Another account. 

A further account of the ecclesiastical and moral 
condition of New- York is given in a letter addressed 
to the Bishop of London, by the Eev. John Miller, 
who was for three years a resident of the province as 
chaplain to the king's forces. The reverend gentle- 
man's statements give even a darker coloring to mat- 
ters than the governor's. Viewing everything with 
the eyes of an exclusive Churchman, he could find 
•very little to approve in all the various sects with 
which the province abounded. Especially was he 
scandalized by the irregular method of conducting 
ecclesiastical matters in the towns on Lone: Island, 
where, though nearly every parish had its minister, 
yet, as these had no episcopal ordination, they were 
styled " only pretended ministers." Nor is the ac- 
count given of the ministers of the English Church 
more flattering. " There are here, and also in other 
provinces," writes the reverend chaplain, " many of 
them, such as, being of a vicious life and conversation, 
have played so many vile pranks, and show such an 
ill light, as have been very prejudicial to religion in 



INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN. 87 

general, and to the Church of England in particular." 
He also complains " of the great negligence of divine 
things that is generally found in the people, of what 
sect or sort soever they pretend to be." 

" In a soil so rank as this," continues the writer, 
" no marvel if the Evil One finds a ready entertain- 
ment for the seed he is ready to cast in ; and from a 
people so inconstant and regardless of heaven and 
holy things, no wonder if God withdraw his grace, and 
give them up a prey to those temptations which they 
so industriously seek to embrace." " It is, in this 
country, a common thing for the meanest persons, so 
soon as the bounty of God has furnished them with a 
plentiful crop, to turn what they earn, as soon as may 
be, into money, and that money into drink, while 
their families at home have nothing but rags to pro- 
tect them from the winter's cold. And if the fruits 
of their plantations are such as are readily converted 
into liquor, they can scarcely wait .till it is fit for 
drinking, but, inviting their pot-companions, they all 
of them, neglecting whatever work they are about, set 
to it together, and give not over till they have drunk 
it off. And to these sottish engagements they will 
make nothing to ride ten or twent}; miles ; and at the 
conclusion of one debauch another is generally ap- 
pointed, except their stock of liquor fail them. Nor 
are the mean or country people only guilty of this 
vice, but they are equaled, nay, surpassed, by many 
in the city of New -York, whose daily practice is to 
frequent taverns ; and to carouse and game, their night 
employment. This course is the ruin of many mer- 
chants, especially those of the younger sort, who, car- 
rying out with them a stock, whether as factors or on 



88 CnT OF NEW-YORK. 

their own account, spend even to prodigality, till they 
find themselves bankrupt ere they are aware/' 

" In a town where this course of life is led by many, 
it is no wonder if there be other vices in vogue, because 
they are the natural product of it — such as cursing 
and swearing, to both of which people are here much 
accustomed — some doing it in that frequent, horrid, 
and dreadful manner, as if they prided themselves 
both as to the number and invention of them. This, 
joined to their profane, atheistical, and scoffing method 
of discourse, makes their company extremely uneasy 
to sober and religious men.'' 

^ 82. The remedy. 

As a remedy for these crying evils, and many others 
that he enumerates, the reverend chaplain proposed 
a plan worthy of the times and the men with whom he 
was associated as a Christian minister. It was, " to 
send over a bishop to the province of New -York, duly 
qualified, commissioned, and empowered, as suff'ragan 
to ' my lord of London,' to take with him five or six 
sober young ministers, with Bibles and prayer books — 
the bishop to be appointed governor, on a salary of 
£1,500 ; his maJQsty also to give him the farm in 
New -York, commonly called the King's Farm, as a 
seat for himself and his successors." 

^ 83. Governor Fletcher s efforts toward improvement. 

It will be recollected that at about the time this 
letter was written Governor Fletcher was endeavoring 
to effect something toward improving the moral and 
religious condition of the province. The building of 
churches at the public expense was a part of his plan ; 



INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN. 89 

he also designed to introduce ministers and school- 
masters of the Church of England ; hut hy his par- 
tiality toward his own religious predilections he be- 
came involved in disputes with the people of the prov- 
ince, who had little favor for that form of Church 
order and worship. At his instance laws were enacted 
prohibiting the profanation of the Lord's day, by trav- 
eling, labor, fishing, hunting, horse-racing, or fre- 
quenting tippling houses, and also against drunken- 
ness. Other vices notoriously prevalent in the prov- 
ince, though prohibited by law in other provinces, 
were left unnoticed, probably because they were 
thought to be too deeply seated to be effaced by legal 
remedies. The events would seem to prove, that how- 
ever necessary such reformatory measures might have 
been, the governor carried the use of legal restraints 
as far as the people would bear them. 

§ 84. Summary view of society. 
The social aspect of the city of New -York at the 
advent of the eighteenth century was very far from 
being flattering. The population w^as composed of the 
rudest and most heterogeneous materials. The larg-^ 
est class was the native Dutch, children of the original 
colonists, who had grown up among the corrupting 
influences of a rude state of society, without educa- 
tion, and untamed by even the simplest social refine- 
ments. Their manners and morals appear to have 
corresponded to their characters. Their lives were 
spent in low pleasures and gross sensual indulgences, 
varied by seasons of toil, and sufferings from diseases 
and poverty. A large portion of the English popula- 
tion was little better. Between the Dutch and the 



90 CITY OF NEW-YOKK. 

English but little good-fellowsliip subsisted. The 
former considered themselves the proper heads of the 
social body, and looked upon all others as intruders 
and low adventurers, seeking wealth or pleasure in 
indolence and reckless, amusements. The latter es- 
teemed the Dutch as a conquered race, too stupid to 
share in the direction of public affairs, and unworthy 
to be admitted to social equality with themselves. 
The foreigners were a mixed class, in which the na- 
tional customs, languages, and religious creeds of 
each were maintained, but all of them degenerated 
and depraved. Few of the natives were able to read 
and write, and for those who could there was scarcely 
any reading matter to be obtained. In such a state of 
things, moral and social degradation could not fail to 
characterize the community. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 91 

CHAPTEE Y. 

CONDITION AND PROGRESS— 1 700 TO 1770. 

^ 85. The city as it was in 1700. 

With the opening of the eighteenth century, the 
city of New -York entered upon a course of steady, 
though moderate progress toward its present state 
of greatness and prospective increase. In population 
it had attained a size corresponding to that of a mid- 
dle class country village of the present time, though 
in wealth and social advancement it was doubtless 
much below that standard. Its population was made 
up of immigrants from several countries in Europe, or 
the children of such immigrants, having all the char- 
acteristics of their several nationalities. The fusing 
process by which this heterogeneous mass has been 
reduced to its present homogeneousness had not then 
advanced to any considerable degree. 

^ 86. Composition of the population. 

The largest division of the inhabitants were of 
Dutch origin, though the natives of the British islands 
and their descendants nearly equaled the original 
Dutch population. A considerable number of Swedes 
and other Scandinavians had been brought from the 
Swedish colony on the Delaware, and were settled in 
the city and its vicinity. The French Protestants 
also constituted a very respectable body in the popu- 
lation of the city and province : while a considerable 
number of Jews and other refugees from religious 
persecution contributed to the motley character of the 



92 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

social body. And last of all, of the population of the 
city, amounting in all to less than five thousand, 
about eight hundred were negroes, mostly slaves. 
Such were the conflicting elements of the social' and 
political body of our infant metropolis, one hundred 
and fifty years ago — of which it were too much to ex- 
pect that its action would be altogether harmonious. 
The process by which most of these classes have since 
become amalgamated, was then in its incipiency, and 
it is not strange that the fermentation caused some 
disquiet. 

^ 87. Lord Cornbury''s administration. 

Lord Bellemont, the late popular governor, died 
early in the year 1701, and was buried in Trinity 
church-yard. After his death the colonists were 
broken up into factions, the soldiers in the garrison 
became mutinous, and a violent party S23irit prevailed 
among all classes. Next year Lord Cornbury, son 
of the Earl of Clarendon, and grandson of the cele- 
brated statesman and historian of that name, arrived 
in the province, bearing a royal commission as gov- 
ernor of New -York and New- Jersey. Though descend- 
ed from an illustrious family, the new governor pos- 
sessed very few qualities adapted to awaken the ad- 
miration of his subjects, or to commend the excellence 
of hereditary dignities. A profligate in life and char- 
acter, he had been a burden to his friends at home, 
and was now sent abroad that he might be out of the 
reach of his creditors. He immediately identified 
himself with one of the leading factions in the prov- 
ince, and succeeded in procuring the election of an 
assembly having a majority of his own party. Two 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 93 

tlionsand pounds were voted by this assembly, osten- 
sibly to pay the expense of the governor's voyage 
from England, but really as a present, and his annual 
salary fixed at ^,000 — more than double the amount 
ever before allowed to a provincial governor. Soon 
after a large sum was voted to fortify the harbor, and 
the expenditure of it intrusted to the governor ; but 
the fortifications were not made, nor was the money 
ever satisfactorily accounted for. 

§ 88. Troubles about Church matters. 

Cornbury was zealous for the Church of England, 
and denied the right of preachers and schoolmasters 
to exercise their functions in the province without a 
bishop's license. He accordingly caused two Presby- 
terian missionaries, sent out by some dissenters in 
England, to be arrested ; but the jury acquitted them 
in the face of the evidence proving the charges laid 
against them, and the verdict was greeted by the 
people with a shout of applause. The governor's un- 
popularity continued to increase during the whole 
course of his administration, and, after many and 
strong remonstrances had been sent to England 
against him, he was at length dismissed from ofiice 
in 1708, and immediately seized by his creditors and 
thrown into prison. But the death of his father, soon 
after, made him a British peer, and, quitting the 
debtors' jail, he assumed his seat in the House of 
Lords. 
» § 89. An epidemic in New -York. 

During the months of June and July, 1703, the city 
of New -York sufiered from an epidemic, for the first 
time of which we have any account. No less than 



94 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

seventeen persons lay dead and unburied at the same 
time — a very large number compared with the whole 
population. Among the victims were the mayor of 
the city and other distinguished citizens. The gen- 
eral assembly met at Jamaica, on Long Island ; the 
people removed from the city, and a general alarm 
prevailed. 

§ 90, The King's Farm given to Trinity Church. 

Eeference has several times been made to the farm 
on Manhattan Island, originally the property of the 
Dutch West India Company, and known successively 
as the Company's, the Duke's, the King's and Queen's 
Farm. This farm was now presented by Queen Anne 
to the new English Church recently completed in New- 
York, and incorporated by an act of the assembly. In 
process of time this farjja became covered with build- 
ings, which, let on long leases, produce a large reve- 
nue, and render Trinity Church the most wealthy 
ecclesiastical corporation in the country. 

§ 91. Growth of the city. 

The internal affairs of the city present but few 
notable points about these times. The population | 
increased gradually but slowly, only at the rate of 
about twenty-five per cent in ten years. In 1732 the 
number had reached eight thousand six hundred and 
twenty-four, and the dwellings about one thousand 
four hundred. The only building specially noticed 
by the chroniclers of the early part of the past cen-« 
tury, as erected during its first ten years, was "a rope- 
walk in Broadway, opposite the Common, covered with 
bushes and brushwood." The Presbyterian church in 



I 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 95 

Wall-street was erected in 1720, the Middle Dutch 
cliurcli (now occupied as the Post-office) in 1729, and 
the Jews' synagogue in Mill-street in 1730. Ahout 
the same time a lot of ground, one hundred and twelve 
feet long and fifty wide, situated to the south of Chat- 
ham-square, was granted to the Jews for a burying- 
ground. 

§ 92. New streets — sales of real estate. 

Public improvements during this period advanced 
very slowly. In 1729 Eector-street and others to the 
south were laid out and regulated. Cortlandt-street 
was opened by the proprietors, and registered as a 
highway, in 1732 ; and about the same time Water- 
street first appears among the public ways of the city. 
The price of land was steadily advancing, and atten- 
tion began to be directed to the public domain in the 
vicinity of the city. In 1728 " that little island in the 
Fresh Water was appropriated as the most suitable 
place for building thereon a magazine and powder- 
house." About this time ten lots, each twenty-five 
by one hundred and twenty feet, " in the Swamp, near 
the cripple-bush," were sold to Jacob Eoosevelt at ten 
pounds each, through which Eoosevelt-street was after- 
ward opened. The same individual, a few years later, 
purchased the whole of Beekman's Swamp for one 
hundred pounds, through which he soon after opened 
Ferry-street. In 1732 there was a sale of seven lots 
on Whitehall-street, near the Custom-house, at prices 
ranging from one hundred and fifty to two hundred 
and fifty pounds — a great advance upon the prices 
paid a few years before. About this time a small 
o'ore of land, one hundred and three feet in length, 



96 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

(at the junction of Liberty-street and Maiden-lane,) 
was given to Eip Van Dam, on his petition, for the 
sum of ten shillings, " being of little or no value to 
any one else but him." From 1732 to 1740 the in- 
crease of houses in the city was only sixteen. 

§ 93. The first newspapers. 

The first regular newspaper in the city was a small 
weekly sheet called " The Gazette," issued in the year 
1725. At first this was designed to serve only as a 
medium of commercial intelligence and general news. 
But during the controversy between Governor Cosby 
and his partisans on one side, and the council and 
people on the other, this paper was used b}'^ the gov- 
ernor as a political organ. This led to the establish- 
ment of a rival paper — the " Weekly Journal," pub- 
lished by John Peter Zenger — which was filled with 
articles freely criticising the conduct of the governor 
and his supporters, and denying the legality of cer- 
tain recent acts of the administration. Not satisfied 
with replying through the Gazette, Cosby ordered the 
Journal to be burned by the sherifi", imprisoned the 
publisher, and prosecuted him for libel. The only 
two lawyers in the city who would undertake his de- 
fense were excluded from the profession for calling in 
question the authority of the court, and Zenger seemed 
to be in danger of lacking proper counsel in his de- 
fense. But on the day of trial, to the dismay of the 
prosecutors, the venerable Andrew Hamilton, of Phil- 
adelphia, a Quaker lawyer of great eminence and 
speaker of the assembly of Pennsylvania, appeared for 
the defense. Hamilton first offered to j)rove the truth 
of the alleged libel, but, according to English prece- 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 97 

dents, this was dLsallowed. He then appealed to the 
personal knowledge of the jury; no evidence, he con- 
tended, was necessary — the facts were notorious, and 
the jury knew the statements in question to he cor- 
rect, and they ought to feel themselves ohliged to 
Zenger for having exposed them, as the cause was the 
common interest of the whole province. In spite of 
the instructions of the court to the jury to convict 
Zenger, they, without leaving their seats, rendered a 
verdict of acquittal, which was responded to by shouts 
of applause from the people. The freedom of the 
colonial press was thus vindicated ; hut, as too often 
happens in such cases, the poor printer, having served 
a purpose, was left to struggle, overwhelmed with 
debts, the victim of official odium. 

§ 94, The negro plot. 
The year 1741 is noted in the annals of our city as 
the time of the celebrated negro plot, and the terrible 
effects of that delusion. It should be observed that 
nearly thirty years before this there had been a simi- 
lar panic in the city relative to a negro insurrection, 
at which time nineteen unhappy wretches were sacri- 
ficed by the popular phrensy. But the delusion of 
the latter period was yet more fatal in its consequen- 
ces. Whether, indeed, there was any plot at all, 
among any portion of the blacks, is exceedingly doubt- 
ful ; there is no ground at all for the suspicion that 
there was any of a formidable character. 

§ 95. How the panic began. 
The city of New -York, at the time of this remark- 
able excitement, contained a population of about eight 
thousand, of which from twelve to fifteen hundred 

5 



98 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

were neoToes — and most of these slaves. On the 
18th of March a fire occurred in the fort, which con- 
sumed the secretary's office and the Dutch church. 
About a week later another, though inconsiderable 
fire occurred, and within two or three weeks later 
some half dozen more, most of them however only the 
burning of chimneys. These frequent fires, together 
with a prevalent belief that a great deal of petty rob- 
bery was carried on by the negroes, with the aid of 
certain white men, gave rise first to a general uneasi- 
ness, which soon increased to a panic. This was 
greatly heightened by a public proclamation offering a 
reward of a hundred pounds for the discovery of the 
incendiaries. The reward was too tempting to be long 
resisted. An indented servant-woman soon after ob- 
tained her freedom and the hundred pounds by pre- 
tending to divulge a plot formed by her master, a low 
tavern-keeper, named Hughson, and three negroes, to 
burn the city and murder the entire white population. 
This information was like a spark among tinder. The 
whole population was thrown into a paroxysm of rage 
and fear. The militia paraded the streets almost 
continually ; the accused parties were arrested and 
hurried away to the jail, and the utmost rage against 
the negroes inflamed every breast. So intense was 
the panic that the most unreasonable and contradic- 
tory statements were greedily caught up, and the least 
suspicious circumstances were construed as plain evi- 
dence against the accused. 

§ 96. Its progress. 

When the panic was once fairly begun, it readily; 
supplied itself with the necessary stimulants. The 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 99 

prize obtained by the servant-woman became an object 
of envy, and soon further pretended revelations were 
made. An Irish woman of infamous character, who 
had been convicted of a robbery, was tempted to turn 
informant by a promise of pardon. In this manner 
the matter grew and extended. Informants increased 
on every hand, and though their tales were quite in- 
consistent, all were greedily received by the magis- 
trates and people. In a very short time a hundred 
and fifty-four negroes and twenty whites were com- 
mitted to prison, as accomplices in the pretended con- 
spiracy. 

^ 97. Nature and agents of the pretended plot. 

The pretended design of this fabulous plot was 
never very definitely made out. As darkly shadowed 
forth in the statements of the hired informants, there 
seemed to be a design to destroy the city and murder 
the white population, so as to afford free living to the 
blacks and the white conspirators. The infamous 
Irish woman implicated Hughson and his wife and 
daughter, and confessed that she herself had entered 
into the conspiracy. At length several other white 
persons were accused by her, especially one Ury, an 
English Episcopal clergyman, but acting as a school- 
master — who had fled from his own country to escape 
persecution, because he would not acknowledge the 
right of the reigning family. The case of Ury was 
peculiarly a hard one. He was entirely unconnected 
with the infamous gang to which most of the white 
Victims of this delusion belonged ; and he had at hand 
the means, could he have been heard, to prove his en- 
tire innocence. In the pretended revelations of this 



100 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

Irish courtesan, Urj was declared to bo a disguised 
Jesuitical priest ; yet he was able to prove the con- 
trary beyond a question, and to trace his history con- 
tinuously from the beginning to the time of his arrest. 
But the object of trial at that time was not to come 
at the truth, but simply as a formality preparatory to 
the infliction of death. 

^ 98. Proceedings of the courts. 

There were at that time only eight lawyers in New- 
York, all of whom volunteered their services to the 
government, and assisted by turns in the prosecution, 
leaving the miserable prisoners without the aid of 
counsel. To obtain the required evidence upon which 
to base a sentence, pardon and freedom were offered to 
any who would turn king's evidence, and by this 
means any amount of testimony, to almost any fact, 
could be obtained. While there was no one to say a 
single word for the accused, the lawyers vied with each 
other in scurrility, in heaping abuse upon them, in 
which they were only outdone by the judge, when he 
came to pass sentence. Many purchased their own 
lives by confessing their participation in crimes of 
which it was afterward proved they knew nothing, 
and accusing others ; and, strangest of all, some con- 
fessed at the stake their guilt, who knew nothing of 
the things with which they were charged. 

As the result of this bloody delusion, thirteen were 
burned, eighteen hanged, and seventy were transport- 
ed. The public thirst for blood seemed now to be 
somewhat satisfied, and the phrensy began to abate; 
a reaction at length ensued, and the persons remain- 
ing in prison were set at liberty. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 101 

§ 99. How the case appeared afterward. 

No sooner had the popular excitement subsided, 
than it became evident that the proceedings had been 
precipitate, and highly improper. As to the fires in 
chimneys, none but partially insane persons could sus- 
pect that incendiaries would seek by such means to 
burn up a city ; and the fire in the fort could be traced, 
with almost absolute certainty, to an accidental cause. 
Just before that fire occurred, a plumber had been at 
work mending the roof of one of the buildings in the 
fort, having a pot of burning coals, from which a high 
wind was scattering sparks about the building. It 
was also seen that the testimony that had been used 
was wholly unreliable, since nearly all the witnesses 
had been bought up hj rewards and immunities of 
such magnitude as to be sufficient to corrupt any but 
those of the severest virtue. It soon came to be doubt- 
ed whether, if there had really been any conspiracy 
at all, its extent had not been greatly overrated — a 
matter as to which there can now be no question. 

^ 100. Proximate causes. 

A variety of causes united to create the delusion 
that resulted so fatally, and so deeply disgraced the 
good people of New -York. The mass of the people 
were extremely ignorant, and the usual accompani- 
ments of popular ignorance, unreasonable prejudices 
and cruel bigotry, seem to have pervaded all classes. 
Illiberality was a prevailing characteristic of the age, 
favored in this case by the almost perfect isolation of 
the colonial settlements. The prevailing antipathy 
toward the Church of Kome, which was then cherished 



102 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

as a sacred religious and patriotic sentiment, con- 
tributed its violence to the prevailing phrensy. A 
non-juring schoolmaster, suspected, as already shown, 
but without any good reason, of being a disguised 
Jesuit priest, was accused of stimulating the negroes 
to revolt and burn the city, with assurances of immu- 
nity against future punishment by absolution ; for 
which he suffered the extreme penalty of the law. 
Most of the inhabitants of New -York knew nothing 
of Eoman Catholics but from the tales of horror re- 
lated by their ancestors of the cruelties of the Span- 
iards in Holland, or of gunpowder plots and Smith- 
field burnings in England ; and therefore the sus- 
picion that fell upon the poor schoolmaster was not 
only fatal to himself, but invested the whole affair 
with a deeper shade of bloody atrocity. 

^ 101. Primary cause. 

But the primary cause of this cruel tragedy is 
doubtless to be found in the unnatural and 02:>prGssive 
relations of the two races. A consciousness in the 
mind of the oppressor that he is constantly inflicting 
a wrong upon the victims of his injustice begets in 
him a sense of guilt, and consequently of danger. 
Men always reckon those enemies whom they injure, 
and dread the occasion when the injured party may 
seize the opportunity to vindicate their long-deferred 
rights. Thus a suspiciousness is inseparable from 
such a relation, rendering the mind sensitive to the 
most vague intimation of danger, and suggesting the 
dreaded cause as operating to produce every fortuitous 
event that may transpire. There is but little doubt 
that this cause was powerfully active in producing the 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 103 

panic and the cruelties of this pretended or real negro 
plot. 

^ 102. Attention to the cause of education. 

The interests of education were but little regarded 
by our ancestors till a comparatively recent period ; 
and the idea of diffusing intelligence among the 
masses seems not to have existed among them at that 
time. Schools for the education of the children of the 
common people were unknown, and comparatively few 
could read intelligibly or write their own names. In 
1702 a grammar-school was established by the cor- 
poration, and a master sent for to the Bishop of Lon- 
don, "as there was not any person within this city 
(with whose convenience it would be agreeable) proper 
and duly qualified to take upon himself the ofiice of 
schoolmaster in said city.'' The school thus estab- 
lished continued in existence, in some form, through- 
out the colonial period of the country, and became the 
nucleus around which were collected the original ele- 
ments of Columbia College. But the advantages of 
such a school were necessarily confined to the more 
opulent families, while the poorer and middling classes 
were quite without educational facimies. Asa neces- 
sary consequence of this state of things, there was a 
prevailing amount of popular ignorance, with its ac- 
companiments of rudeness and illiberality, that can 
now be only faintly apprehended by the more favored 
people of this metropolis at the present time. 

A library of one thousand six hundred and forty-two 
volumes, a gift from Dr. Millington, of London, to the 
corporation of the city of New -York, was received 
through the Society for Propagating the Gospel in 



104 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

Foreign Parts, in 1729, whicli was duly accepted and 
arranged in a room appropriated for that purpose in 
the City Hall. This was the first public library ever 
established in New -York. It was afterward used as 
a circulating library, the books being loaned to the 
citizens at sixpence a volume for a week. The New- 
York Society Library was founded, for a like purpose, 
in 1740. 

§ 103. Increase of general intelligence. 

The establishment of the first newspaper in the city 
has been already noticed. That was, however, at first 
rather a mercantile and political afiair than a move- 
ment in behalf of learning. But the incidental and at 
length direct influence of a free press upon the cause 
of general intelligence, soon became too evident to 
escape general observation. A very marked change 
in the matter of general intelligence among the in- 
habitants of New -York took place during the forty 
years preceding the war of the Revolution. This in- 
tellectual progress of the masses led to a higher ap- 
preciation of popular liberty, and a more fearless as- 
sertion of the rights of individual freedom. 

^ 104. Political affairs. 

The political history of New -York city for thirty 
years before the beginning of the Revolution, is 
almost wholly destitute of incidents of general in- 
terest. A succession of royal governors, and, at fre- 
quent intervals, lieutenant-governors, who were gen- 
erally citizens of the province, held the chief direction 
of public affairs — between whom and the assembly 
there were almost perpetual contests for the ascend- 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 105 

ency. But the liistorj of the province and that of the 
city had ceased to be identical ; the city had attained 
to an individuality of its own, and the increase of the 
province beyond the city gave a more general charac- 
ter to provincial affairs. The city was still the seat 
of the provincial government, and the residence of the 
governor and other principal officers : but the muni- 
cipal affairs were almost exclusively managed by the 
local officers of the corporation, who were more or less 
directly dependent on the popular suffrages, and in 
many cases in a good degree imbued with the popu- 
lar spirit. The period under notice was, in a variety 
of aspects, one of slow but steady social progress. 

^ 105. Enlargement of the city. 

During the ten years from 1740 to 1750, the prog- 
ress of the city was much more considerable than 
during the decade immediately preceding. About 
four hundred houses were added in that time, and the 
population advanced in about the same ratio, though 
very few public buildings were erected for a long 
period down to the year 1750. In that year we hear 
of the first theater ever established in New -York, and 
from this time the increase of public edifices was rapid. 
The Moravian church in Fair (Fulton) street was 
founded in 1751, and St. George's, in Beekman-street, 
the next year. About the same time the new Ex- 
change at the head of Broad-street was built by pri- 
vate subscription. King's (Columbia) College was 
founded two years later. About the same time a new 
market was built "on the west side of Broadway near 
Dey-street," called " the Oswego ]\Iarket," — the pre- 
decessor of the present Washington Market. In 1757, 



106 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

a large number of troops being assembled in the city, 
barracks, capable of holding eight hundred men, were 
built for their accommodation, "on the Commons, be- 
tween the jail and Catiemut's Hill,'^ — now the block 
of ground bounded by Centre, Chambers, and Chat- 
ham-streets. The building was four hundred and 
twenty feet long, twenty-one wide, -and two stories 
high. In 1760 the Baptist church in Gold-street was 
built, and five years later St. Paul's chapel in Broad- 
way. In 1766 the Presbyterian Church petitioned for 
the " angular lot, lately called the vineyard," alleg- 
ing the great increase of that persuasion, and their 
consequent need of an additional place of worship ; 
and the land asked for was granted at a rent of forty 
pounds per annum, upon which shortly afterward was 
erected the brick church in Beekman-street, which was 
at first called the "Brick church in the fields." The 
same year a German Lutheran church was built in 
"the Swamp," on the corner of William and Frankfort- 
streets : a year later the Scotch church in Cedar-street 
was erected : the next year the Methodist church in 
John-street — the first of that denomination in Amer- 
ica: and in 1769 the North Dutch church in Wil- 
liam-street. With this list end all public improve- 
ments of any note till after the war of independence. 

^ 106. Map of the city for 1729. 

The best notion of the progress of the city, during 
the period embraced in this chapter, may be gotten 
by comparing a series of maps presenting plans of the 
city at several distant periods. In a former chapter 
such a map for the year 1695 was described; to this 
will now be added a notice of a plan of the city as it 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 107 

appeared in 1729, and again in 1763. As shown by 
the former of these, New -York at that time extended 
no farther westward than Broadway, except that a 
little above Trinity church two or three streets were 
projected, designed to reach down to the river, along 
wliich a few small houses had been built. To the 
eastward the city pressed hard down upon the water, 
and below Great Queen (Pearl) street was a line of 
houses fronting on the water, the rudiments of the 
future Water-street. Within the last thirty years the 
city had grown out beyond the line of the old city- 
wall. King (Pine) street, running along the outside 
of the old palisade, had become a well-occupied street. 
Farther up. Crown (Liberty) street. Maiden-lane, and 
Golden Hill, (John-street,) began to bear the aspect 
of city thoroughfares, and scattered houses were 
found along Fair, (Fulton,) Ann, and Beekman-streets, 
though as yet these were but partially opened and 
regulated. Of the avenues leading into and out of 
the city, BrOadway extended only to the Common at 
the south-west angle of the Park, while Kip (Nassau) 
street, though only partially regulated, came up along 
its eastern side and united with the " High-road to 
Boston.^' William-street formed a kind of central 
avenue, reaching from the Vley to the open fields 
above Beekman's Swamp, while Great Queen-street 
skirted the East Eiver as far up as the high ground 
now occupied by Franklin-square, whence a country 
road connected it with the stage-road for Boston, near 
the "Fresh Water.'^ Beyond the city, to the north- 
west, lay " the King's Farm," as yet only a farm ; in 
the middle was the Common, having the Fresh Water 
beyond it; and beyond this, to the north-east, was a 



108 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

high range of wooded hills, near the homestead of the 
Bayard family, and hence called Bayard Mount. To 
the south of the Fresh Water, and just above the out- 
skirts of the town, was Beekman's Swamp, still an 
unsubdued thicket — and yet farther eastward was the 
great swamp and meadow, then in all its original 
wildness. 

§ 107. Public buildings of this period. 

The prominent public edifices shown in the map un- 
der notice are : the fort, including within its walls the 
king's chapel, the governor's house, and the secre- 
tary's office ; Trinity church on Broadway, and just 
below it, on the same side, the Lutheran church ; the 
old Dutch church on Garden-street, and the new one 
on the corner of Nassau and Crown-streets. The 
Quakers had a house of worship on Nassau-street, and 
the Baptists near the head of ClifiP-street : on Wall- 
street, near Broadway, was the Presbyterian church, 
and on Mill-street the Jews' synagogue. The Custom- 
house stood on Dock-street, fronting Whitehall-slip : 
the Exchange at the foot of Broad-street, and the City 
Hall at its head. At the head of Countess's Key (Coen- 
ties-slip) was the fish-market ; the meat-market was 
at the foot of Wall-street, and Old-slip market at the 
foot of William-street. 

§ 108. Aspect of the city at that time. 

At this time (1729) the population of the city was 
little more than eight thousand, and the number of 
dwellings about fourteen hundred. For the next 
twenty years the progress of the city was inconsider- 
able, so that one may justly figure to himself the 






'PS 



^.;,^.%x 



« ,% 



I PL A \ or 'rHv: 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 

Rulmtrl hoin itii lu/ini/ ,'^ ii iViV . 



i- «.t>^ 



- ^L 










"^ 



,u(l 





A 'I'hf Fort 

B Tri/iifv ChtircK 

C Old Dutch. Chuich. 

D, French Oiurr/i 

t.Vcn- Diitrh Church 

F , Fi-cshyterlaii Meettnif 

C, QlKtA'frs Mcftiiijti 

H Ijftptiyf: yfeetliig 

I, I.ulhernit Cliitrc. 

K. Jews SyUuujagutl, 

L , S! Georges- CJiapel 

M, Moruyi'ctii Meet in tj 

N New Lulhrrixii Meelnitf 

O. fusions Hoitse 

P iiovci-itviy Ho'ise 

a Secrefarvs Office 

I 



H, City House 

S. EiX-cliantye 

T J^is7i Mcu-lijtt 

V Old Slip Marlidt 

X , Meal Market 

Y. Fly Uctvket 

ZBni'lins Market 

_t OsH'eqo Mcirket 

2, EnglisTx, Free School 

2 HufcJi Frer Sclioof 
i. Block. If o use 
S'O (ties' 






IITH-OF S^ROtJY t MAJOff IJyOfti, 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 109 

image of this great city, as it was a hundred years 
ago, as that of a rudely-constructed village of scarcely 
ten thousand inhabitants, with ten places of public 
worship, of almost as many different denominations, 
and most of them of very limited proportions ; and 
the few other public buildings of equally insignificant 
proportions. The day of its progress had not yet 
dawned upon the future Empire City. 

§ 109. Map of the city for 1763. 

The next map of New-York, dated in 1763, indi- 
cates that a very considerable progress had occur- 
red in a few years preceding that date. The plan of 
the city on the west side of Broadway extends up to 
Warren-street. Farther east it included all between 
the High-road to Boston (Chatham-street) and the 
East Eiver, — Beekman's Swamp had wholly disap- 
peared. The spirit of improvement had also invaded 
the Great Meadow, across which, from north to south, 
were laid out Eoosevelt, James, and portions of Oliver 
and Catharine-streets, and, from west to east, Water, 
Cherry, Eutger's, (Oak,) and Bancker's (Madison) 
streets. Several streets had also been laid out along 
the High-road, beyond the Eresh Water, long since 
occupied as a portion of the city. Many of these 
improvements were indeed as yet only prospective ; 
but they indicate a quickened spirit of enterprise 
among the citizens. The third quarter of the eigh- 
teenth century was to New -York a season of pros- 
perity far exceeding anything that had preceded it. 
The population which in the course of a hundred and 
forty years had, in 1750, scarcely reached nine thou- 
sand, in 1773 numbered nearly twenty-two thousand. 



110 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

A like progress was made in nearly every department 
of the city's affairs. This has been shown in the rapid 
multiplication of churches and other public buildings, 
in the extension of streets, and the increase of the 
aggregate area of the city, and could be made still 
more evident by an exhibition of the increased wealth, 
intelligence, and public spirit of the citizens. The 
stimulating cause of all this prosperity remains yet to 
be noticed. 

§ 110. Commerce of New -York. 

From the beginning New -York has been a com- 
mercial city, and its increase and stability have al- 
ways depended upon its commercial prosperity. Of 
late its trade had greatly increased. Its ships visited 
many foreign ports ; and no town in America, not ex- 
cepting Philadelphia, surpassed it in the extent of its 
commercial operations. The whole amount of its im- 
ports for the year 1769 was a little short of a million 
dollars, — a great advance from that of previous years ; 
and though it seems small compared with the im- 
mense aggregates now realized, yet, compared with 
the population, the disprojwrtion is much less remark- 
able. At that time about one-tenth of all the foreign 
commerce of the British American colonies centred at 
New -York, which proportion has gradually increased 
till nearly one-fourth of the whole foreign trade of the 
United States is found at that port. The effects of 
this commercial prosperity were felt in all the affairs 
of the city. Increase of wealth brought with it an 
improved style of building, an increase of public work, 
greater attention to personal appearance and manners, 
and at length more attention to education. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. Ill 

§ 111. Religious affairs — Presbyterians. 
A change in tlie moral and religious affairs of New- 
York, not less gratifying than that of its commerce 
and pecuniary business, was carried forward during 
the third quarter of the eighteenth century. The 
spiritless monotony that had marked nearly all the 
churches of the city from the beginning was now in- 
terrupted, and a more fervid style of address intro- 
duced into the pulpit, and a spirit of earnestness be- 
gan to pervade the religious assemblies." This was 
especially the case with the Presbyterian Church in 
Wall-street, of which Eev. John Eogers was for a long- 
time pastor. Probably few individuals have conferred 
so large favors upon our city as did that pious and 
active minister ; and to him is the city generally, and 
the cause of religion and good morals especially, and, 
above all, the Presbyterian denomination in New- 
York, greatly indebted. The increase of the Church 
in AYall-street was so great that the place was found 
insufficient for the congregation that sought to avail 
themselves of the privileges of public worship in that 
place ; ancf this led to the establishment of a second 
congregation — the brick church in Beekman-street, 
founded in the year 1767. The new religious life 
that had been infused into the staid congregation of 
that church led to a modification of some of the old 
time-honored forms of the Presbyterian Church, and 
especially to the substitution of AYatt's Hymns instead 
of the uncouth version of the Psalms of David for- 
merly in use. But such innovations were viewed with 
horror and alarm by the more rigid adherents of the 
ancient forms of the Presbyterian Church. A seces- 
sion had consequently taken place some years previous. 



112 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

and tlie separatists about this time organized an in- 
dependent ecclesiastical bodj, and erected the First 
Scotch Presbyterian Church in Cedar-street. 

§ 112. The Reformed Dutch Church. 

The same influences that so greatly and advan- 
tageously affected the Presbyterian Church in New- 
York, extended also, though in a less degree, to the 
Dutch Calvinist Churches. These Churches — the 
original religious denomination of the province — had 
well maintained their ascendency and relative numbers 
in the city. Instead of the original edifice within the 
walls of the fort, a new one was erected, in 1693, on 
Garden-street, near Broad-street, which was greatly 
enlarged in 1766. Another, commonly known as the 
Middle Dutch Church, situated at the corner of Cedar 
and Nassau-streets, (now occupied as the post-office,) 
was built in 1729 ; and now (1769) yet another, known 
as the North Dutch Church, was erected at the corner 
of William and Pair (Fulton) streets. All of these 
several Churches and congregations formed one eccle- 
siastical corporation, and enjoyed a commoi#pastorate, 
which important office was held by the venerated Dr. 
Livingston. Under his wise and judicious administra- 
tion, and by the influence of his Christian zeal and 
fidelity, the rigid formalism of these ancient Churches 
was brought into a more practical approximation to 
the spirit of the times, and into sympathy with the 
newly-awakened religious influences that were actu- 
ating other religious bodies in the city. The position 
thus sciven to that venerable denomination was, both 
immediately and prospectively, of the greatest im- 
portance to the religious affairs of New -York. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 115 



§ 113. The Methodists. 



During the latter portion of this period a religious 
movement was commenced in New -York which pres- 
ently attracted some attention, and has since had a 
large share in directing religious affairs in all parts 
of the country. About the year 1766 the first Meth- 
odist society in America was formed in the city of 
New -York. Methodism had then existed in Great 
Britain as an organized body for nearly thirty years, 
and its "United Societies" were found in almost 
every part of the kingdom ; but as yet no attempt 
had been made to plant that form of Christianity in 
this country. Whitefield had indeed visited this coun- 
try in his missionary tours, and had borne with him 
the name and spirit of Methodism, but not its form. 
He had also labored with marked success in New- 
York, and was no doubt largely instrumental in pro- 
moting the changes already noticed, especially in the 
affairs of the Presbyterian Church. But hitherto Wes- 
leyan Methodism was unknown in America. About 
this time a number of Irish immigrants, who had been 
connected with the Methodist body, and one of them a 
lay-preacher, came to New -York. These presently set 
up public worship, after the forms they had been ac- 
customed to use in their own country, first in a private 
house, and afterward in a rigging-loft. The house 
thus rendered memorable, now, after the lapse of 
nearly a hundred years, is still standing, a relic of 
" the old time.'' It may be seen on the south-easterly 
side of William-street, about midway between John 
and Fulton-streets, and readily distinguished among 
the lofty modern edifices that surround it. 



116 CITY OF NEW-YOKK. 

§ 114. Embury and Captain Webb. 

The lay-preacher just spoken of was Mr. Philip Em- 
bury, who was by birth and education an Irishman, 
and by trade a house-carpenter. He appears to have 
been a man of true piety, and of very considerable 
good sense and energy of character. He naturally 
became the head and leader of the little company that 
held their social conventicles at his house ; and with so 
much favor were these exercises regarded by those who 
were admitted to them, that soon more sought admit- 
tance to them than could find accommodations in the 
narrow limits of the dwelling of the mechanic preacher. 
This incited them to procure more ample accommoda- 
tions, and accordingly the place in William-street was 
obtained for a house of public worship, where Em- 
bury officiated as minister. "While the little society 
were occupying this humble place, an event occur- 
red that suddenly gave no little notoriety to them- 
selves and their un imposing chapel. Among the 
military forces then in the province was a Captain 
Webb, who held the office of master of the barracks 
at Albany. This officer had been connected with the 
Methodist societies in Great Britain, and was licensed 
to officiate as a lay-preacher. At the time now under 
notice Captain Webb was in New -York, and having 
introduced himself to Mr. Embury, was by him intro- 
duced to the assembly in the " rigging-loft,'^ to whom 
he preached in his military costume. The novelty of 
the thing, together with the deference that was felt 
for an officer bearing the king's commission, awakened 
much interest, and drew out many to hear the soldier- 
preacher in his subsequent ministrations. Afterward 




JOHN-STREET METHODIST CHURCH. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 119 

Captain Webb was stationed at Jamaica, on Long 
Island, where a body of troops was tben quartered. 
Here he continued his efforts as an evangelist, and 
thence also paid frequent visits to his friends in New- 
York, fully identifying himself with the little society 
under the care of Mr. Embury. 

§ 115. The first Methodist church. 

The zealous efforts of these unpretending evangel- 
ists were not without their fruits. The attendance of 
a large and respectable audience at the " loft '^ in 
William-street indicated the extent of the impression 
that had been made upon the public mind. The state 
of things in the city generally, as already noticed, 
favored this new enterprise, and in return received 
from it an increased impulse. The necessity of a more 
commodious place of worship began to be felt, and the 
practicability of procuring one to be discussed. The 
undertaking was a formidable one ; but the necessity 
was seen to be imperative, and so an effort was made. 
A lot of ground was procured on a slight eminence to 
the east of Broadway, called Golden Hill, since trav- 
ersed by the upper part of John-street, and on this a 
wooden building, forty by sixty feet in its dimensions, 
was erected. The funds required for this work werft 
obtained by private donations from all classes of the 
citizens, together with a small sum sent by Mr. Wes- 
ley from England. Mr. Embury did much of the car- 
penter's work with his own hands, as well as superin- 
tended the whole business. The building was finished 
in the autumn of 1768, and dedicated to its sacred 
purpose by a sermon and other religious exercises, 
conducted by Mr. Embury. 



120 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

^ 116. Methodist preachers arrive from England. 

Thus far the little Methodist society had existed 
entirely unconnected with any other association, either 
at home or abroad. They, however, claimed to be an 
integral part of the great body of Wesleyan Method- 
ists, then rapidly extending in all parts of Great 
Britain. Mr. Embury had thus far conducted the 
affairs of the little society with much discretion 
and ability; but as by the change of circumstances 
his little assembly assumed the character and aspects 
of a Church, requiring the services of a regularly au- 
thenticated minister of the gospel, he felt his inade- 
quacy to the work thus thrown upon him, and wished 
some other to be intrusted with the weighty charge. 
A petition was accordingly sent out to Mr. Wesley, 
soliciting the appointment of one or more preachers 
to labor in America. Two individuals, Messrs. Pil- 
moor and Boardman, were therefore sent to take 
charge of the Methodist society in New-York, and to 
commence in America a system of itinerant evange- 
lization, similar to that which had been so eminently 
successful in Great Britain. A few years later these 
were reinforced by additional missionaries from En- 
gland, among whom was Mr. Francis Asbury, since 
the apostle of American Methodism, and one of the 
first bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 
United States. The present Methodist church in John- 
street, erected in 1842, occupies the site of the orig-, 
inal edifice, and is one of the few places of worship 
that has not yielded to the demands of the commercial 
interests of that portion of the city. 



NEW-YORK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 121 

CHAPTEK VI. 

NEW-YORK DURING THE REVOLUTION. 

^ 117. First movements toward the Revolution. 

The political history of the city of New -York, so quiet 
and devoid of interest for nearly half a century, be- 
came more active and exciting as the revolutionary 
struggle approached. No other town in all the Amer- 
ican colonies had so much to lose by a rupture with 
the mother country ; and except Boston only, no other 
entered into that contest with so much avidity and 
determination. But, as usual in such cases, the more 
wealthy citizens, and especially the great merchants, 
were averse to extreme measures of resistance. Here 
at least the revolutionary movements were led on by 
the common people, but for whose boldness and energy 
it is very probable the others would have submitted 
to the exactions of the British government. 

^ 118. Early resistance to British authority. 

The honor of being the first to resist the assump- 
tion, by the Parliament of Great Britain, of the right to 
tax the American colonies, has been very generallj con- 
ceded to Boston and Massachusetts ; butNew-Tork may 
safely claim at least equality in that honor. When 
Lord Grenville's scheme for raising a revenue in 
America was first brought forward, nearly all the 
colonies remonstrated against it; but generally in 
tones so subdued, a^zd with so many protestations of 
loyalty, as to rather assure than intimidate the ex- 
acting and rapacious home-government. But the 

6 



122 CITY OF NEW- YORK 

assembly of New -York spoke out in louder and more 
decided tones, — so much so that no member of the 
British Parliament would present their petition to 
that body. The spirit of the New-Yorkers was 
quickly taken by some of the other colonial assem- 
blies. Ehode Island soon after echoed the language 
of New -York, and the Massachusetts leaders presently 
changed their protestations of loyalty and humble 
petitions for relief to language more befitting the 
character of freemen. 

§ 119. Opposition to the Stamp-act. 

In 1765 came the affair of the Stamp-act. By this 
law the government of Great Britain endeavored to 
raise a revenue in America by the sale of government 
stamps. To effect this it was ordered that all legal 
instruments, of whatever kind, should be written on 
paper bearing the stamp of the government ; and for 
these stamps large sums were required in favor of 
the national exchequer. 

The attempt to carry this measure into effect brought 
the affairs of the colonies to a crisis. In New -York 
the citizens took a most decided stand against it. 
Two companies paraded the streets on the evening of 
the first day of November, when the Stamp-act was to 
go into force, setting the police at defiance, and de- 
manding the obnoxious stamps — which, on the resig- 
nation of the stamp-distributor, had been left with 
Golden, the lieutenant-governor, by whom they had 
been deposited for safe-keeping in the fort. Golden 
was hung in effigy ; and, proceeding to a still more 
riotous course of action, the mob seized and burned 
bis carnage under the muzzles of the gans of the fort. 



DURING THE REVOLUTION. 123 

The furniture of several other officers of the crown 
was also destroyed. Alarmed at these proceedings, 
and fearing for his personal safety, Golden at length 
gave up the stamped papers, which were conveyed to 
the City Hall and there deposited under the safe-keep- 
ing of the mayor of the city. 

§ 120. Captain Sears and the " Sons of Liberty ^ 

These tumultuous proceedings were instigated and 
led on, in a great measure, by Captain Isaac Sears, 
who had been the commander of a merchant ship, and 
subsequently of a privateer. His influence with the 
middle and lower classes was almost unbounded; which, 
together with his wealth and power of intrigue, made 
him formidable to the ruling party. To gain his 
favor for the government he was made an inspector of 
pot-ashes — an office ^of some consideration in the city. 
But he could not thus be bought off from his old asso- 
ciations and his love of liberty. He was of a rough and 
burly temper, fond of excitement, and had a most in- 
tense dislike of the effeminacy and rapacity of the 
government officials. Such a man was of course ad- 
mirably fitted to become a popular favorite and leader 
in such stormy times as these. 

An association of the friends of popular rights was 
formed about this time, called "Sons of Liberty,'^ but 
more familiarly styled "Liberty Boys," of which Sears 
was the leading spirit. The members of this associa- 
tion were perpetually on the alert for any occasions 
of danger to the popular cause, nor were they over- 
scrupulous as to the means to be used either for pre- 
vention or cure. Yet they rendered most valuable 
service to the cause of American independence by their 



124 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

determined opposition to the pretensions of tlie British 
rulers. The emblem of the " Sons of Liberty " was a 
mast, or pole, erected " in the fields,'^ near the foot of 
the Park. This mast was styled the " Liberty-Pole," 
and it was the progenitor of the numberless repre- 
sentatives of the same family to be found in every 
part of the American republic. 

^ 121. Organized resistance to the law. 

The proceedings thus far had been carried on by 
the inferior classes of the people, headed by Captain 
Sears. The wealthier classes of the inhabitants met 
the next day and appointed a committee of five per- 
sons, of whom Sears was one, to correspond with the 
other colonies. This committee soon after recom- 
mended an agreement among all the colonies to im- 
port no more goods from Great Britain till the stamp- 
act should be repealed. This non-importation agree- 
ment, to which a non-consumption covenant was pres- 
ently added, was numerously signed in New -York, 
Boston, and Philadelphia. Public business, which had 
been suspended for a while for the want of stamped 
paper, presently began to be transacted without it ; 
and even the courts of justice were at length com- 
pelled to come into the same measure, and, by disre- 
garding the demands of the Stamp-act, to aid in nulli- 
fying it. Thus the triumph of the popular cause was. 
complete, and things moved on again in their usual 
q^uiet and good order. 

§ 122. Repeal of the Stamp-act. 

The news of the repeal of the Stamp-act, by the 
British Parliament, was celebrated at New -York with 



• DURING THE REVOLUTION. 125 

the liveliest demonstrations of joy. Confidence seemed 
to spring up anew among the colonists toward the 
mother country, and all their loyalty to return upon 
them. A leaden equestrian statue of the king was 
ordered to be set up in the Bowling-green, and a full- 
length marble statue of Pitt was placed at the corner 
of Wall and William-streets. The sufferers by the 
late riots were indemnified for their losses, but no 
blame was cast upon the rioters, — an evident indica- 
tion of the state of public sentiment in the matter. 

But this season of good feeling was of but short du- 
ration ; a new cause of irritation soon occurred. The 
policy adopted by the home-government toward the 
colonies induced a large increase of the military force 
in the chief towns in America. The several colonial 
assemblies were required to provide quarters for the 
troops that might be sent among them. With this 
demand the New -York Assembly refused to comply, 
and in ret^ation the assembly were prohibited from 
legislating on any other subject till they had complied 
with the requirements of the quartering act. This 
failing of its object, the governor dissolved the assem- 
bly, and a new one, still more refractory, was chosen 
in its stead, which also was soon after dissolved. 

§ 123. New difficulties with the mother country. 

This contest was continued through two years with 
varied success. Many of the wealthier citizens, espe- 
cially those belonging to the Church of England, 
alarmed at the evident tendency of things, at length 
began to relax in their opposition. At the next elec- 
tion for an assembly the moderate party made a great 
effort, and was successful. In the city of New -York, 



126 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

Philip Livingston, a leading member in the two for- 
mer assemblies, was defeated, and his friends were 
found in the minority in the new assembly. The point 
so fiercely contested hitherto was now yielded, and the 
required quarters provided for the royal troops. 

This humiliating concession drew from Alexander 
M^Dougald, a leading spirit among the " Sons of Lib- 
erty,'^ and afterward a major-general in the American 
army, an indignant " Address to thp Betrayed Inhab- 
itants of the City and Colony of New -York," calling 
a public meeting of the citizens to take the proceed- 
ings of the assembly into consideration. The assem- 
bly pronounced this address " a false, seditious, and 
infamous libel," and committed its author to prison, 
by which they at once increased the suspicion of their 
own lukewarmness in the popular cause, and rendered 
M'Dougftld a martyr, and sent multitudes to visit 
liim in his confinement. The soldiers revenged the 
cause of the assembly by cutting down^lie liberty- 
pole, which the patriots had erected at a place of 
popular rendezvous. The populace retorted the in- 
sult, and brawls became frequent between the inhab- 
itants and the soldiers. 

§ 124. Continued growth of the city. 

These political agitations did not at once put a full 
stop to the commercial prosperity of the city, nor en- 
tirely suspend its advancement. New streets contin- 
ued to be laid out and opened, and public improvements 
continued to be made up to the commencement of 
hostilities. Vandewater-street, in Beekman^s Swamp, 
was first regulated in 1768; Warren-street in 1771; 
and in 1774 a street in front of the Common, " lead- 



DURING THE REVOLUTION. 127 

ing from Sfc. Paul's cliurch toward the Fresh Water," 
was opened and named after the popular Earl of Chat- 
ham. Very soon after this all improvements in the 
city gave place to the wasting desolations of war. 

§ 125. A tea party and an anti-tea party. 

As the difficulties between the colonies and the 
mother country increased, New -York became fully 
compromised in them. The tea tax, so famous on ac- 
count of the course of resistance adopted at Boston, 
was scarcely less decidedly opposed at New -York. 
In 1773, a ship belonging to the East India Company 
Avas sent to New -York with a cargo of teas consigned 
to a mercantile house in that city ; but, at the demand 
of a popular meeting, the consignees refused to act in 
the business, when the governor ordered it to be stored 
in the barracks. The vessel was compelled by stress 
of weather to put in at the West Indies, and so did 
not arrive till the next spring. Then the pilots at 
Sandy Hook, under instructions from the city com- 
mittee, refused to bring her up, and a " Committee 
of Vigilance " soon after took possession of her, by 
whom she was brought up to the city, but was soon 
after ordered back again to Sandy Hook. Meanwhile 
another ship, commanded by a New -York captain, 
arrived, purporting to have no tea on board, and ac- 
cordingly was permitted to come up to the city ; 
but when it was afterward ascertained that there 
were eighteen chests on board, the indignant people 
seized and emptied it into the river. A few days afi 
ter, with great parade, led by a band playing the 
British national air, while the bells were ringing and 
the flags flying from the liberty-pole and the shipping, 



128 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

the captain of the East India tea ship was escorted 
from the Custom-house to a pilot boat which took him 
to the Hook, where, under the direction of the " Com- 
mittee of Vigilance,'' the anchors were weighed and 
the vessel started on her homeward voyage. 

§ 126. A general congress called. 

Hitherto resistance in New -York to the aggressions 
of the home-government had been chiefly managed 
by the committee of correspondence, headed by Sears, 
and by the " Sons of Liberty '' — a band composed 
chiefly of persons of the middle and lower classes, 
among whom were M'Dougald, Willett and Lamb, 
and upon whose discretion the more wealthy citizens 
did not place the fullest reliance. After the passage 
of the Boston Port Bill a public meeting was called, 
at which the old committee was dissolved and a new 
one chosen, consisting of fifty-one members, compris- 
ing some of the principal citizens. This committee, 
soon after, in a circular letter, proposed " a congress 
of deputies from all the colonies," to take into con- 
sideration the state of public affairs of common inter- 
est. The meeting of the proposed congress having 
been fixed for the first of September, and the provin- 
cial assembly refusing to send delegates, the appoint- 
ment of deputies was undertaken by the committee 
of fifty-one, assisted by a committee of mechanics. 
Some difficulty occurred between the supporters of 
M'Dougald, the candidate of the " Sons of Liberty," 
and the friends of John Jay, a young lawyer of a 
rising reputation, who was supported by the upper 
classes. A poll was therefore opened under the su- 
pervision of the mayor and aldermen, at which all 



DURING THE REVOLUTION. 129 

tax-payers were allowed to vote. Livingston, Alsop, 
Law, Duane and Jay, the candidates of the more 
moderate party, were chosen, and the nominations 
thus made were confirmed and ratified in other parts 
of the province. A second congress having heen 
called for the next year, (1775,) to which also the 
assembly refused to appoint delegates, a warm con- 
test took place among the citizens, not wholly without 
violence, in an election for deputies to a provincial 
congress by which the delegates were to be appointed, 
in, which the popular and more violent party were suc- 
cessful. This was the first open rupture between the 
political parties in the city ; afterward the breach 
continued to widen, till it ended in an open rupture 
and sanguinary conflict. 

§ 127. First provincial congress. 

The provincial congress of New -York met accord- 
ingly in May, and was presided over by Nathaniel 
Woodhull, subsequently the hero of Long Island. 
Measures were adopted for putting the province in a 
state of defense, by enlisting troops and erecting for- 
tifications, especially on Manhattan Island and the 
western extremity of Long Island. The congress 
also invited Wooster, with his Connecticut regiment, 
to assist in defending the city against the expected 
British troops, who accordingly came soon after with 
a thousand men. An encampment was :^rmed by 
them at Harlem, and troops also were stationed on 
Long Island to guard against a surprise from that 
direction. The province of New -York, and especially 
the city, began now to assume a decidedly warlike 
attitude and appearance, 

6- 



130 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

§ 128. Trouble with a British man-of-war. 
The Asia man-of-war and several smaller vessels 
were all this time lying in the harhor, closely watch- 
ing all that was going forward on shore. At length 
an opportunity occurred for those on board to display 
their hostility to the popular cause. On the evening 
of the 22d of August, Capt. Sears was sent with a 
detachment of militia to remove some guns that lay 
near the fort at the southern extremity of the city. 
For some cause several shots were fired at one of the 
Asia's boats that lay not far off, which was presently 
answered by a broadside from the ship, killing three 
of Sears's men, and throwing the whole city into great 
consternation. Among those engaged in this affair 
was Alexander Hamilton, a youth of eighteen, who 
had been for two years past a student in King's Col- 
lege, and had already made himself conspicuous 
among the j)atriots by certain able newspaper essays 
in behalf of popular liberty. He was soon after, 
through the favor of M'Dougald, appointed a captain 
of artillery, from which point his history is identified 
with that of the country. 

§ 129. Proceedings of the Committee of Safety. 
The Committee of Safety, appointed by the late 
provincial congress, now proceeded to disarm the loy- 
alists on j^ong Island and Staten Island — which, how- 
ever, proved to be a rather difiicult task. A parti- 
san warfare was thus commenced, arraying neighbor 
against neighbor, and not unfrequently dividing the 
nearest relations. Governor Tryon soon found him- 
self in uncomfortable circumstances on account of his 
opposition to the popular cause, and, to escape personal 



DURING THE REVOLUTION. 131 

inconvenience, retired on board of the Asia. But the 
action of the Committee of Safety was not vigorous, 
and the governor had a strong party in the city and 
its vicinity, with whom he managed to keep up a cor- 
respondence. Eivington's Gazette, the government 
paper in New -York, continued to be issued, and was 
a great annoyance to the patriots. The publisher 
had been several times called to account, and had 
promised to use less freedom in his strictures, but at 
length he became more offensive than ever. The 
Committee of Safety, however, still refused to inter- 
fere in the matter. Accordingly, Sears, on behalf 
of the " Sons of Liberty," having mustered a troop 
of light-horse in Connecticut, entered New -York at 
noon and drew up in front of Eivington's office, and, 
amid the cheers of the people, broke up the press and 
carried off the types. Troops soon began to concen- 
trate in New -York. A body of Connecticut volun- 
teers, obtained through Sears's agency, was ordered 
into the city, and General Lee was presently sent 
thither by Washington to take the command ; and 
Colonel Howe's regiment of New-Jersey minute-men 
and a body of Sterling's regulars were sent to disarm 
the tories on Long Island, and to arrest some of the 
principal delinquents. 

§ 130. Plot against the person of Washington. 

Though there was so strong and active a party in 
New -York in favor of ^ the popular cause, yet in no 
part of the country were the royalists more numerous 
or more influential than in that city and its vicinit}^ 
For that reason, as well as because of its fitness as a 
central point for military operation, it was expected 



132 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

that the enemy when driven out of Boston would di- 
rect their main efforts to that city. Accordingly, in 
the spring of 1776, Washington assumed the com- 
mand of that city in person, and immediately is«^ued 
a ppoclamation forhidding all intercourse with :|j e 
enemy's shipping. But to enforce such a regulation 
was no easy matter. Even the mayor of the city was 
detected in a correspondence with the governor, and 
was accordingly thrown into prison. A plot was also 
detected for seizing the person of the commander-in- 
chief, and conveying him on board one of the British 
ships — a scheme that had advanced somewhat through 
the perfidy of some of Washington's soldiers, one of 
whom was shot for his participation in this affair. 
Washington's whole disposable force at this time 
numbered only about eight thousand men, very im- 
perfectly equipped and poorly provided. An addi- 
tional force of thirteen thousand militia had also 
been ordered to rendezvous in the city. 

§ 131. Declaration of Independence. 

About this time the Continental Congress, assem- 
bled at Philadelphia, declared the united colonies free, 
and independent of the mother country. The news 
of this proclamation was received with many demon- 
strations of joy by the populace of New -York. The 
portrait of King George that had decorated the City 
Hall was destroyed, and the leaden statue in the 
Bowling-Green was thrown down and run into bullets. 
The joy, however, was far from being universal. A 
large portion of the wealthier citizens looked on with 
distrust, and the Episcopal clergy showed their dis- 
satisfaction by shutting up their churches. It was 



DORING THE REVOLUTION. 133 

now no longer possible for men to avoid a choice be- 
tween the two parties, and accordingly some who had 
hitherto favored the popular cause drew back from 
th*^ extreme measures now adopted by that party ; 
•ft. lie others who had avoided a decision and remained 
neutral, when compelled to choose between the parties, 
became decided and active friends of the new govern- 
ment. The declaration was highly favorable to the 
friends of liberty in New -York, as their covert enemies 
were thus forced to show themselves, and their friends 
being known, became more decided and energetic in 
their efforts for the rights of the people. 

§ 132. Defenses of New -York City. 

While waiting for the arrival of his expected rein- 
forcements, Washington was not inactive. Obstruc- 
tions were sunk in the North and East Kivers, and 
fortifications erected to guard the narrowest passages. 
Fort Washington, at the north end of Manhattan 
Island, and Fort Lee, on the opposite Jersey shore, 
were the strongest of these works. The fort at the 
southern point of the city was strengthened and put 
in order, and an additional battery placed in Broad- 
way, above the Bowling-Green. M'Dougald's battery 
was erected on an eminence, just behind Trinity 
church. There was also a battery at the ship-yards 
near the foot of Maiden-lane, and another at Corlaer's 
Hook. Governor's Island had been occupied by a 
thousand continental troops since April, by whom it 
was fortified ; a battery was also erected at Eed Hook, 
at the western extremity of Long Island. In Brook- 
lyn, a chain of breast- works and small fortifications 
extended from the Wallabout (now the Navy- Yard) to 



134 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

Red Hook ; and in the city were defenses at every 
vulnerable point, and most of the streets were barri- 
caded. But the disposable force in the city was quite 
inadequate to defend so large an extent of exposed 
front as New -York presented. 

§ 133. The inhabitants leave the city. 

The warlike aspect of affairs drove a large portion 
of the inhabitants from the city. Women and chil- 
dren became very scarce, and very few of either were 
seen in the streets. Many dwellings were shut up, 
their owners having fled from the city ; and when the 
soldiers entered, they broke open the abandoned houses 
and quartered themselves in them. 

§ 134, Battle of Long Island. 

About the last of June a British fleet appeared off 
Sandy Hook with the army of General Howe, from 
Boston, which entered the harbor and disembarked the 
troops, without opposition, on Staten Island. Soon 
after, another British fleet, commanded by Admiral 
Lord Howe, brother to the general, arrived from En- 
gland, with a strong reinforcement. The invading 
army, thus strengthened, amounted to twenty-five 
thousand men. The fleet proceeded up before the 
city without opposition, and was but slightly delayed 
by the obstructions that had been placed in its way. 
A plan of attack by way of Brooklyn was at length 
determined on. On the 27th of Auo-ust the whole 
British force was put in motion. Having landed on 
Long Island, a few miles below the city, after a good 
deal of irregular skirmishing and some severe fight- 
ing, in which the Americans were defeated at every 



DURING THE REVOLUTION'. 135 

point, the enemy halted for the night in front of the 
works on the high grounds of Brooklyn. During that 
night, under cover of a heavy fog, the whole Ameri- 
can force was transported across the East Kiver ; a 
part of them was then posted in the city, and the rest, 
comprising the greater portion, were encamped at 
Harlem Heights. In anticipation of a still farther 
retreat, the surplus haggage and military stores were 
sent beyond the Harlem Eiver, where also Washing- 
ton's headquarters were established. On the loth of 
September the British effected a landing at Kip's 
Bay, when the city was evacuated by the Americans, 
and given up to the enemy ; and from that time New- 
York became the center of operations of the British 
army in America. With the American army a very 
large portion of the remaining inhabitants left the 
city ; so that during the whole period of British mili- 
tary rule in New -York the local population is thought 
not to have exceeded ten thousand. 

§ 135. Great fire in New -York. 

Immediately after the capture of New -York by the 
British, on the night of the 21st of September, a fire 
broke out in the lower part of the city, which burned 
on almost without resistance during the entire night 
and part of the next day, and reduced a large portion 
of the city to a heap of ruins. It commenced late at 
night in a small wooden house kept as a place of 
revelry and debauchery on the wharf, near Whitehall- 
slip. The panic among the inhabitants on account of 
the capture of the city prevented any adequate efforts 
to extinguish the fire, or to hinder it from spreading. 
The wind was blowing from the south-west; so that 



136 CECY OF NEW-YORK 

the flames were carried up tlie slip, and soon the whole 
space between Whitehall and Broad-streets, as far up 
as Beaver-street, was a continuous field of fire. At 
about two o'clock in the morning the wind changed to 
south-east, and carried the fire toward Broadway. It 
burned both sides of Beaver-street to Broadway, and 
both sides of Broadway as far up as Eector-street, 
where its farther progress on the east side was checked 
by a large three-story brick house. On the west side 
it continued up to Trinity church, burning both that 
church and the Lutheran church a little farther 
down. All the houses on Lumber-street, as far up as 
St. Paul's church, were destroyed, and on both sides 
of Partition (Fulton, west of Broadway) street, and the 
whole range of compact buildings from Broadway to 
the river. It did not finally stop till it reached Mort 
Kile (Barclay) street, where the college-yard and 
vacant grounds adjoining put an end to its destructive 
progress. The isolated condition of Trinity church 
seemed to promise its safety in the general ruin ; but 
the southerly wind threw large flakes of fire upon its 
wooden roof, which, on account of its steepness could 
not be guarded, and consequently it took fire, and so 
the whole edifice was consumed. St. Paul's church 
was several times on fire, but the roof being flat, with 
balustrades at the eaves, a number of persons were 
stationed upon it to extinguish the burning cinders 
as they fell. The whole number of houses burned 
amounted to about five hundred, or more than an 
eighth part of the entire city, as to numbers ; but a 
much greater proportion as to their value, as they 
composed the best part of the city. 



I 



I 



DUKING THE REVOLUTION. 137 

^ 136. American prisoners brought to New -York. 

The history of New -York while occupied by the 
British army presents a sad view of the dark side of 
" glorious war." Though there was no more fighting 
in or about the city, after the capture, the horrors of 
war were there experienced in their most dreadful 
forms. At the battle on Long Island nearly a thou- 
sand American prisoners were taken by the British ; 
and in the reduction of Forts Washington and Lee, 
and in several other battles fought about this time, 
not less than three thousand more were taken. Many 
private citizens were likewise arrested for having been 
engaged in revolutionary movements ; so that at the 
beginning of the following winter there could not 
have been less than five thousand prisoners, for whose 
safe-keeping Sir William Howe was called upon to 
provide. The sudden influx of so great a body of 
prisoners at that season of the year, together with the 
late conflagration of so large a portion of the city, oc- 
casioned much distress, which could not have been 
altogether avoided by the utmost reach of kindness. 
But, to the lasting infamy of the parties concerned, as 
well as in illustration of the horrid accompaniments 
of war, the truth must be confessed, that the neces- 
sarily wretched condition of the prisoners was rendered 
much worse than was necessary by the wanton and 
malicious cruelty of those who had the care of them. 

§ 137. Provost Marshal Cunningham. 

The oversight of the prisoners was committed by 
the commanding general to the provost marshal, one 
William Cunningham, the son of a British soldier, who 



138 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

was himself bronght u]) in the army, but had been 
subsequently engaged in certain discreditable agencies 
connected with forwarded emigrants to America. Just 
before the commenc-ement of hostilities he had come 
to New -York, where he became involved in a personal 
difficulty with the " Sons of Liberty,'' to escape from 
which he fled to Boston, w^here he was advanced by 
General Gage to the rank of provost marshal ; and 
now, after the capture of the city, he had come into a 
position that enabled him to wreak his vengeance to 
satiety upon the party of his former enemies — an op- 
portunity that he did not fail to improve. The tale 
of the cruelties of this monster of iniquity almost ex- 
ceed belief; and the fact that such enormities were 
practiced in their presence, and were allowed, reflects 
great dishonor upon the commandants of the British 
army in New -York. A sentiment indeed prevailed to 
a great extent among the royal party that the Ameri- 
cans, as rebels, had forfeited all rights, and were just- 
ly liable to the worst and severest of treatment — a 
sentiment noticed by Washington in his correspond- 
ence with General Howe, and against which he makes 
a most earnest protest. 

§ 138. Crowded state of the prisons. 

The prisons and public buildings were immediately 
crowded to their utmost capacity with these unhappy 
captives. Into the new bridewell, which stood on 
Broadw^ay, to the west of the site of the present City 
Hall, over eight hundred were crowded, where, during 
the entire winter, they were allowed no fire, and the 
windows were without glass or shutters, and the rations 
dealt out for three davs were less than a man could 



DURING THE REVOLUTION. 139 

eat at a single meal. The new jail, or *' provost," 
(now the Hall of Eecords,) was a prison for American 
officers, and the more distinguished rebels, whether 
civil or military. Here the provost marshal kept his 
quarters, and exercised his tyranny upon his unhappy 
victims with more than a Nero's cruelty. The prison- 
ers were crowded together so closely, that at night it 
was almost impossible for all to lie upon the floor at 
once. Here, during the seven years of Cunningham's 
reign of terror, were incarcerated many distinguished 
American officers, suffi^ring all manner of insult and 
privation, while they awaited the time of their liber- 
ation, which death, often swifter than any human help, 
not unfrequently brought to them. The old City Hall, 
which, stood on the site of the present Custom-house. 
was converted into a guard-house for the main guard 
of the city. It had dungeons and prisons below, and 
a court-room on the second floor, where the refugee 
clergy preached during the latter part of the war. 
At first civil offenders were confined here, but subse- 
quently whale-boatmen and robbers. 

§ 139. The Siigar-House, etc. 

But these ordinary places of confinement were en- 
tirely insufficient to contain all the prisoners ; and, 
accordingly, several of the churches, and other large 
buildings, were appropriated to that purpose. Among 
these temporary prisons the Sugar-House obtained a 
terrible notoriety. This modern bastile stood on 
Liberty-street, near the Middle Dutch church, a dark 
stone building, five stories high, with small, deep, port- 
hole-looking windows, rising tier above tier, exhibit- 
ing a dungeon-like aspect. There was a passage 



140 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

quite round the outside of the building, which was 
inclosed by a close board fence nine feet high, in which, 
night and day, two British or Hessian soldiers walked 
their weary rounds. In the suffocating heat of sum- 
mer might be seen every aperture of those stone walls 
filled with human heads, face above face, seeking a 
portion of the external air. While the jail-fever was 
raging in the summer of 1777, the prisoners were let 
out in companies of twenty, for half an hour at a time, 
to breathe the fresh air; and those within divided 
themselves into companies, and thus took their turns 
of ten minutes each at the windows. For some weeks 
the daily mortality amounted to ten or twelve. The 
bodies were thrown into the dead-cart and conveyed 
to a trench kept constantly open, above the Jews' 
burying-ground, where they were buried in heaps, 
without care or ceremony. 

§ 140. Churches turned into prisons. 

The North Dutch church, at the corner of William 
and Fulton-streets, was made to hold eight hundred 
prisoners ; its pews were ripped up, and its mahogany 
pulpit sent to London, and put in a chapel there ; and 
a floor was laid across from gallery to gallery. The 
Middle Dutch church was also, at first, used as a 
prison, but was afterward appropriated to the use of 
the master-of-horse to be occupied as a riding-school, 
to train dragoon horses. The floor was taken up and 
the ground covered with tan-bark, and a pole run 
across the middle for the horses to leap over. These 
churches both remained in their ruinous condition till 
after the restoration of peace. The Brick church in 
Beekman-street was at first a prison also ; but soon 



DURING THE REVOLUTION. 141 

after, it and the Presbyterian cliurch in Wall-street, 
and the Scotch church in Cedar-street, and the Friends' 
meeting-house, were converted into hospitals. The 
French church in Pine-street was a store-house for 
ordnance stores ; King's College was also used for a 
prison a short time after the capture of the city. The 
only houses of worship that were not defaced and des- 
ecrated during the season of the city's captivity were 
the two Episcopal churches, St. Paul's and St. George's, 
which, as belonging to the English Establishment, 
were accounted sacred ; and the Methodist church in 
John-street, which was also preserved out of respect 
to the known loyalty of Mr. Wesley and the English 
Methodists ; and the German Lutheran church in the 
Swamp, which was used by the Hessian mercenaries 
as a place of worship. 

§ 141. The pnson-ships. 

But the worst tales of the horrors of the captivity 
of the unhappy Americans, in New -York, came from 
the prison-ships. For want of other places for con- 
finement, the prisoners were placed on board of a num- 
ber of ships then lying in the harbor of New- York. 
Among these, the Jersey, the Falmouth, the Digby, 
and the Good Hope, have held the chief notoriety. 
The Jersey was a large and roomy vessel, having 
once mounted sixty-four guns, but was now stripped 
and reduced to a naked hulk. All her ports were 
close shut, which prevented any current of air between 
decks, where all the prisoners were shut down from 
sunset to sunrise. She was anchored in the Wallabout 
Bay, where, for more than twenty years after the re- 
turn of peace, her remains might still be seen. At 



142 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

times there were more than a thousand prisoners at 
once on board of her, without berths or benches, and 
almost without clothes. Dysentery, fever, pleurisy, 
and despair prevailed. Their provisions were scanty 
and of very bad quality, the guards were brutally 
cruel; so that the well often fell sick, and the sick 
pined without the most necessary comforts, and a ter- 
rible mortality prevailed. The number of deaths that 
occurred during the war in the prisons and prison- 
ships, can never be ascertained with any credible cer- 
tainty. That of the prison-ships alone has been set 
down at eleven thousand five hundred ; but this is not 
only entirely conjectural, but far exceeds any reason- 
able probability. It is certain, however, that the hor- 
rors of those places were such as to utterly defy the 
power of language, and even the utmost stretch of the 
imagination. The whole affair is a black stigma upon 
the name of Great Britain, and a lively exhibition of 
the true character of war. 

§ 142, The evacuation. 

As New -York was the first point permanently oc- 
cupied by the hostile British army, so it was the last 
that was abandoned by it. As place after place was 
yielded by the retiring army, the royal forces became 
concentrated in this city. Here, after the peace was 
concluded, were found a large number of provincial 
loyalists, who, having borne arms against the Ameri- 1 
can government, or in other ways manifested a sym- 
pathy with the British cause, could not now safely re- 
turn to their former homes, nor remain in any part 
of the country. There was also a large body of 
negroes, who had been drawn to the British standard 



DURING THE REVOLUTION. 143 

by the promise of freedom ; for both of which classes 
provision had to be made before the city could be sur- 
rendered to the American forces. The tories and 
negroes were at length sent to Nova Scotia ; the 
troops embarked on board of British transport ships, 
and everything made ready for an evacuation. At 
last, on the 25th of November, 1783, all the arrange- 
ments having been fully made, the British command- 
ant surrendered the city to Brigadier General Knox, 
who took j)ossession of it early in the morning with a 
small detachment of American soldiers. In the course 
of the day General Washington and his staff, Governor 
Clinton and his suite, the lieutenant-governor and 
senators, the officers of the army, and a great body 
of citizens on horseback, eight abreast, followed by a 
long procession of citizens on foot, entered the city by 
the way of the Boston road, and proceeded through 
Pearl-street to the Battery. Some difficulty was ex- 
perienced in hoisting the American flag, the British 
soldiers having unrove the halliards and greased the 
flagstaff. A public dinner was given to Washington 
and his general officers, and at evening a splendid 
display of fireworks was made from the Bowling- 
green. 

Thus ended the war of the American Revolution, 
and thus was New -York delivered from the presence 
and power of a foreign enemy, by whom it had been 
trodden down and laid waste for seven years. 



144 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

CHAPTER VII. 

NEW-YORK AFTER THE WAR — 1 783-17 90. 

§ 143, The city at the close of the war. 

When tlie city of New-York was first freed from the 
presence and authority of a foreign military power, 
under whose tyranny it had suffered for more than 
seven years, it was little else than a heap of ruins. 
During this period nearly all kinds of industrial occu- 
pations, both private and public, were almost wholly 
suspended. Streets that were laid out and partially 
regulated before the commencement gf hostilities, had 
since been wholly abandoned and thrown out to the 
open common. The wharves had been permitted to go 
to decay, without any efforts being made to check their 
ruin, or to restore them when so decayed. Both pub- 
lic and private buildings had been appropriated to 
military purposes, and of course had been greatly 
marred and defaced by such use. A large portion of 
the city was embraced in the " burnt district," which 
had been laid in ruins by the two great fires that oc- 
curred during the early part of the war ; and as all 
other parts of the city had been subjected to the spoli- 
ation of the reckless and wanton soldiery, who defaced 
whatever they touched, and wholly neglected to repair 
any breach that might occur, all things bore the marks 
of dilapidation and ruin. Those long and painful 
years of its captivity had reduced New-York to little 
more than a wreck of the city as it was at the begin- 
ning of the war. 



AFTER THE WAR. 145 

§ 144. Aspects of the town — ruins. 

The appearance of the town at the time of its res- 
toration to liberty and peace is described by eye-wit- 
nesses as the most desolate and gloomy imaginable. 
A few sketches selected from the statements of such a 
one will best illustrate this subject.* Beginning at 
the foot of Broadway, there stood the old fort, with its 
dismounted cannon lying under the walls, over which 
they had apparently been toppled by the British sol- 
diery, in the wantonness or haste of their departure. 
In the Bowling-green was still seen the pedestal from 
which the leaden image of George the Third was de- 
throned at the receipt of the news of the Declaration 
of Independence by the Continental Congress. Im- 
mediately above this point began the "burnt district," 
extending up both sides of Broadway to Eector-street, 
except some half-dozen houses left standing near the 
Battery. To the east of Broadway, as far as Broad- 
street and up to Beaver-street, all was a heap of ruins ; 
while on the west side all was swept away except St. 
Paul's church, and a few buildings beyond the com- 
pact part of the city as it was at that time. Opposite 
St. Paul's church were several dwellings of the better 
class. From this point the fields were oj^en to the 
north as far as a line ranging eastwardly from War- 
ren-street, where the prospect was bounded by a row 
of more useful than ornamental public buildings, — 
the bridewell, the poor-house, the jail, and the gallows. 
Toward the west there was nothing to obstruct the 
view of the North Eiver but a few low houses and the 

'■ See Address of Hon. Wm. A. Duer before the St. Nicliolas So- 
ciety. 

n 



146 CITY OP NEW-YORK 

half- ruined buildings of Columbia College. No visible 
attempts bad been made since the fire to remove tbe 
ruins ; and, as many of tbe edifices destroyed were of 
brick, tbe skeletons of tbe walls cast tbeir grim shad- 
ows upon tbe pavements, imparting an unearthly 
aspect to the streets. The semi-circular front of 
Trinity church still reared its ghastly form, and 
seemed to deej^en while it hallowed tbe solitude of 
tbe surrounding graves. 

§ 145. Remnants of the town. 

Turning from these ruins. Wall-street presented 
some of the aspects of a living city. There stood the 
ruined shell of the old Presbyterian church. At tbe 
bead of Broad-street was the old City Hall, in all its 
primitive nakedness. At this time, and until it was 
fitted up for the use of tbe federal government, this 
building stood upon brick arches, permitting a pas- 
sage from street to street underneath. Above Wall- 
street, toward tbe Common, lay the best portion of the 
city, tbe residences of the upper classes — though eveii 
upon these tbe band of the destroyer bad made deep 
and broad impressions. The churches were ruined 
and dilapidated shells ; the shops and stores were few 
and poorly stocked ; and the old sugar-house, no longer 
vocal with groans and execrations, frowned dismally 
on tbe surrounding desolation. 

Nor was the ruin of the material city greater than 
that of its social institutions and pecuniary resources. 
The resident population was less by more than one- 
half than before the war ; though, after the restora- 
tion of peace, many of the exiled families returned to 
tbeir former habitations. Commerce was almost com- 



AFTER THE WAR. 147 

pletely annihilated, and all industrial pursuits and 
social and religious observances greatly depressed. 
The municipal government, that had been suspended 
during the period of the city's captivity, was presently 
reorganized, and began to restore order out of the 
existing confusion. The revenues of the city were 
of course in a ruinous condition, as neither rents nor 
taxes had been collected for many years. The old land- 
marks were in many cases entirely effaced, and often 
no available means remained for determining the 
boundaries of estates. The books and public records 
had, in most cases, been destroyed, or carried off by 
the former royal officers, civil and military. The 
city government was organized according to its old 
charter. James Duane was chosen the first mayor — 
which office he filled for six successive years. Eichard 
Varick was appointed recorder, which office he filled 
during the whole of Duane's administration, and after- 
ward that of mayor for twelve years, or until 1801. 
Eotation in office was less a favorite doctrine in those 
times than at present.' 

§ 146. Restoration of the churches. 

The city very soon began to give indications of re- 
turning vitalit}^ The defaced and ruined public and 
private edifices were gradually repaired, and presently 
the " burnt district '' began to emerge from its ashes 
and rubbish. The " brick meeting " in Beekman- 
street was speedily refitted, and dedicated anew to 
its sacred purposes. The Middle and North-Dutch 
churches were also repaired and reoccupied as places 
of worship soon after the return of peace. St. Peter's 
church, in Barclay-street, the first Roman Catholic 



148 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

church ever built in the city, was erected in 1785 ; and 
two years later, Trinity church, after standing a fright- 
ful mass of ruins for more than ten years, was re- 
built, and also made the metropolitan church of the 
newly-organized Protestant Episcopal denomination, 
for the diocese of New -York. 

§ 147. Regulation of streets. 

Among the early acts of the restored municipal 
government were eflPorts to put in order the streets 
and thoroughfares of the city. The streets had be- 
come encumbered with vast accumulations of rubbish, 
which were now removed ; the old half-filled or ill-fitted 
wells and pumps were cleaned and fitted for use. The 
ferries, which, during the military subjugation of the 
city, had been subjected to the surveillance of the 
army, and, at the evacuation of the city, were wholly 
abandoned, were regulated again, and leased to respon- 
sible persons; streets that had been abandoned were 
reclaimed and brought into use, and, a few years after- 
ward, several new ones added to the map of the city. 

Although streets leading from Broadway to the 
North Eiver had been laid out, before the war, as far 
up as Warren-street, yet none above Dey-street had 
been regulated and paved. Those beyond were but 
very partially built upon, and the few buildings found 
in this part were generally of an inferior description. 
Along the west side of Broadway was a high ridge of 
earth, extending down to the neighborhood of Cort- 
landt-street, through which none of the projected 
streets on this side penetrated ; and indeed Broadway 
itself extended properly only up to the lower point of 
the Common, at St. Paul's church. 



AFTER THE WAR. 149 

§ 148. Supply of pure water. 

The want of an adequate supply of pure and whole- 
some water was felt and confessed at that early period, 
and the subject of remedying the defect was frequently 
discussed among the citizens and public functionaries. 
Very soon after the return of peace, a plan for reme- 
dying this acknowledged defect in the city's provisions, 
was proposed by Mr. Samuel Ogden : but the city was 
not yet in a condition to incur the expense that any 
feasible plan would render necessary. A few years 
later Eobert R. Livingston proposed to bring the water 
from the "Fresh Water" pond into the city. The 
proposed plan was confessed to be quite practicable, 
and the supply of water was thought to be adequate 
for any probable wants of the city; still, beyond a 
few preliminary examinations, and some fruitless dis- 
cussions as to the details of the plan, nothing was 
done with it. For many years after this time the 
citizens of New -York were supplied with pure water, 
for culinary use, from the " Tea-water Pump," a large 
natural spring, located near the junction of Chatham 
and Pearl-streets — conveyed from door to door in casks 
upon carts and drays. The drippings of the roofs, 
carefully preserved in cisterns, and husbanded with 
proper frugality, served to preserve and promote that 
cleanliness of persons, ..and apparel, and habitations, 
which was the just and honest pride of our grand- 
mothers before the name of Croton was heard amgng 
the denizens of the ancient Dutch metropolis. 

§ 149. Sumptuary ordinances. 

Certain entries among the records of the city gov- 
ernment of this period give significant intimations of 



150 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

the prevailing tastes and sentiments of the people as 
to the subjects to which they relate. Under the date 
of " October 5, 1785/' we find that " Thomas Poole 
petitioned for permission to exhibit some feats of horse- 
manship, and was denied.''^ Only nine days later we 
have this : " A donation of forty pounds, made to the 
corporation for the use of the poor by the ' company 
of comedians,' was ordered to be returned, with a 
note of disapprobation at the establishment of a play- 
house without having been licensed, as unprecedented 
and offensive ; and while so great a part of the city is 
still lying in ruins, and the city still suffering under 
distress, there is a loud call to industry and economy, 
and it would be unjustifiable in them to countenance 
expensive and enticing amusements — among which, 
play-houses, however well-regulated, should be num- 
bered ; while, if under no restraint, it may prove a 
fruitful source of dissipation, criminality, and vice/' 
These seem to indicate a commendable care, on the 
part of the city's magistrates, for the morals of the 
community, but, as is too often the case, their care was 
as defective in other matters as stringent in respect 
to amusements. At that very time they were licens- 
ing drinking shops at thirty-five shillings each, at the 
ratio of one to every sixty-five persons, adults and 
children, in the city. 

^ 150. Benevolent associations. 

This period is also distinguished for the attention 
then paid to objects of benevolence and j)hilanthropy. 
Many of the institutions now so efiSciently prosecuting 
those objects, were then just rising into existence. 
Foremost, in point of time among these, was the Man- 



AFTER THE WAR. 151 

umission Society , the parent of tlie various associations 
now in existence designed to effect the extirpation of 
slavery, and the improvement of the condition of the 
colored race. Among the founders and early patrons 
of this society were many of the most renowned and 
estimahle citizens of the city and state of New -York, 
for in those days it was the common sentiment that to 
hold a fellow-creature in involuntary bondage was a 
great moral wrong. 

The Humane Society^ whose province is now occu- 
pied by several independent associations, each direct- 
ing its attention to some specific form of charity, dates 
from 1787. The Society Library yfSi^ reorganized and 
brought into renewed operation soon afterward ; and, a 
little later, the General Society of Mechanics and 
T7'adei's was incorporated. 

§ 151. Financial improvement. 

Evidence of returning financial prosperity is given 
in the advanced prices paid for real estate. In 1785, 
eight lots " near the Bear Market '^ were sold for a 
little more than one thousand dollars a piece. Two 
years later, lots belonging to the city, at Peck-slip, 
were leased for twenty-one years at thirty-five shillings 
a foot; and at the same time ninety ac7^es of the Com- 
mon were sold for about six thousand dollars. The 
market fees were five hundred and eighty pounds a 
year for several years about this time. In 1791 the 
" Fresh Water '^ was purchased of Colonel Eutgers, by 
the corporation, for one hundred and fifty pounds ; 
and a hundred lots on or near Broadway, in the neigh- 
borhood of the Hospital, were sold for twenty-five 
pounds each. 



152 CITY OF NEW-YORK 



§ 152. Population. 

Previous to the beginning of the war the population 
of New -York City had reached ahout twenty-two 
thousand, but the events of the war reduced the num- 
ber of permanent residents to less than half of that 
number. After the restoration of peace, many of the 
families that had fled when the city fell into the hands 
of the enemy, returned, but not immediately in suffi- 
cient numbers to make up the loss before sustained. 
But the revival of commerce, and the great demand 
for the labors of mechanics and artisans, attracted in- 
habitants from all sides ; and the prospective establish- 
ment of the general government at that place, drew 
thither a large proportion of the leading families of 
the country, and of those who follow in the train of 
wealth and power. Under the operation of these 
causes, in three years after the restoration of the city, 
the population had regained its highest formerly at- 
tained point ; and the four following years added ten 
thousand more, making the aggregate population, in 
1790, over thirty thousand. 

§ 153. Enlargement of the city. 

During the three years ending at the above date, 
the streets leading from Broadway to the North Kiver, 
from Cortlandt-street upward to the Hospital, were 
regulated, and some of them paved. A few years 
after this the Common was inclosed, graded and plant- 
ed with trees, and soon began to be called " the Park.^' 
Broadway was also paved as far up as Warren-street, 
and a number of large and substantial brick buildings 
began to appear in that neighborhood. Greenwich- 



AFTER THE WAR. 153 

street, on the bank of the Hudson Eiver, was pro- 
longed by cutting through the high grounds above 
Warren-Street (the old Vauxhall Garden) toward 
Lispenard\s Meadows. 

On the south-easterly side of the town a rapid pro- 
gression was also perceptible. There commerce held 
its principal seat, and accumulated its golden treas- 
ures. From the beginning the city in this quarter had 
pressed hard down upon the verge of the water, and 
by degrees the water itself had been invaded. At 
first Pearl-street lay along the shore of the East 
Kiver, though not immediately on the water ; Water- 
street was soon after occupied by a single row of 
houses fronting the river; it was not, however, regu- 
lated till some years afterward. Before the breaking 
out of the war the ground had been carried outward, 
and Eront-street laid out outside of Water-street ; and 
now the work of filling in and extending was renewed, 
and South-street soon appeared outside of Front-street, 
a point beyond which this "docking" operation has 
not been allowed to proceed. The progress of the 
city began also to be decidedly felt at points hitherto 
considered quite out of town. Along " the great 
Boston road,'^ (the Bowery,) on both sides, were evi- 
dent indications that a city was expected there at a 
not very distant future. On the west side four lateral 
streets had been projected before the war, but now the 
work was undertaken in good earnest, and the present 
order of streets, as far west as Mulberry-street, was 
arranged. These streets, however, did not at first 
come down to Chatham-street, as they do at present, 
but only to the vicinity of Bayard-street. To the 
north-east of the " Fresh Water " was a high woody 



154 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

hill, long known as BayarcVs Mount, but after the 
war called Bunker's Hill. On the north of this hill 
was the family mansion of Nicholas Bayard, Esq., 
which was approached by a lane from the " Boston 
road,'.' and from which a rather devious passage led 
out to the upper extremity of Broadway. Soon after 
this six lateral streets were also laid out on the east 
side of " the road," which were numbered from First 
to Sixth ; and these were intersected by others start- 
ing out of and running perpendicular to that chief 
thoroughfare. Comparatively little was done, how- 
ever, toward occupying these new sites till after the 
close of the last century. 

^ 154. The city proper. 

But while the map of the city was thus enlarged, 
and great extensions of its limits were contemplated, 
the city itself remained quietly within certain com- 
paratively narrow limits toward the southern extrem- 
ity of Manhattan Island. The outskirts of the city 
proper, sixty years ago, were at the Common in the 
center, Beekman's Swamp on the north-east, and the 
grounds of Columbia College on the north-west. A 
little iDeyond these points was a belt of lowlands, 
wholly unfit for building sites, quite separating the 
dense parts of the city from the projected up-town im- 
provements. A portion of the more wealthy citizens 
had country seats " out of town ;" and some of the 
poorer classes were accustomed to go beyond the city 
to obtain cheaper rents, and to purchase a freehold at 
more moderate rates than could be done in the city 
proper. 

At this time, as already intimated, the region along 



AFTER THE WAR. 155 

the East Eiver was the chief seat of the foreign trade ; 
while the wholesale dealers were found principally in 
Pearl-street, Broad-street, and about Hanover-square. 
William-street that then was — that portion of the 
street that still bears that name, reaching from Wall 
to Fulton-street — was the great seat of the retail 
trade, especially in fancy and staple dry-goods, and, of 
course, the great resort of the ladies. Here were ac- 
cumulated many of the estates that have given noto- 
riety to the names of certain leading families in the 
city. Nassau-street, and its vicinity, was a favorite 
locality for private residences, where were found the 
family mansions of many of the most considerable 
citizens. Broadway was rapidly advancing in import- 
ance, but as yet had attained only a second-grade 
position, while the region along the North Eiver was 
the worst portion of the city. 

§ 155. The prospective federal capital. 

From its geographical position, as well as from its 
relative greatness, and the probability of its still 
greater advancement, New -York was, at an early 
period, looked to as the future capital of the now 
free and united American States. 

At the close of its session, in 1784, the old Conti- 
nental Congress adjourned to meet the next year in that 
city, evidently anticipating that the general govern- 
ment would become permanently located there. Ac- 
cordingly a large number of the officers of the lately 
disbanded continental army made their way to New- 
York, to press their sevcsral claims upon the govern- 
ment, or to associate with their old companions in 
arms, among the less exciting duties and pleasures of 



156 CITY OF NEW-YORK. ' 

peace. In 'September, 1784, Lafayette arrived in the 
city, to embark thence for his native country, when 
the municipal authorities waited upon him with an 
address, and the compliment of the freedom of the 
city. At a little later period, Mr. Jay returned 
from Europe and took up his residence in New- 
York; and Baron Steuben, after the disbanding of 
the army, also made New -York his place of resi- 
dence. Both of these gentlemen were received by the 
corporation with the same civilities that were offered 
to Lafayette. The next spring General Washington 
passed through the city on his way from the late head- 
quarters of the army to Mount Vernon. Though 
traveling as a private individual, he was waited upon 
by the corporation, to whose address he made a cliar- 
acteristic reply. The presence of these illustrious 
persons, with many others, imparted an air of activity 
and gayety to the otherwise quiet metropolis. 

§ 156. The Continental Congress in Neio -York. 

The design of the old Congress to transfer the seat 
of the general government to New -York was highly 
acceptable to the people of that city. This satisfaction 
was shown in a truly rational manner. As the Congress 
was sadly deficient in means, though it had adjourned 
to meet in New -York, yet but little provision had been 
made for the accommodation of the government in its 
new quarters. But the city government came forward 
and freely made the requisite provisions. The old 
City Hall at the head of Broad-street was granted for 
the sessions of the Congress, and other needed facili- 
ties were offered to the several departments of govern- 
ment. Here that venerable body continued its sessions 



AFTER THE WAR. 157 

till it became extinct by the inauguration of the new- 
national government under the Federal Constitution. 
Though a very noiseless body, and necessarily ineffi- 
cient, when the outside pressure of war was removed, 
from want of political power, and especially for want 
of funds, yet were the members of that body a most 
respectable set of men, and their pres5hce in the city 
was decidedly and greatly beneficial. 

^ 157. Local events — the doctors' mob. 

A number of events of considerable local interest, 
that occurred in New -York about this time, demand 
a passing notice. Among these " the doctors' mob " 
is one of the most memorable. It ought to be re- 
marked that in this affair, though its name would 
seem to imply that the members of that unpugnacious 
profession were its authors, the physicians were rather 
the victims than the agents of the violation of the 
public peace. The brief story of the affair is this : — 
In the spring of the year 1787, as some children were 
playing near an old building at the lower point of the 
Common, (which had been used by a number of phy- 
sicians and surgeons as a hospital and dissecting- 
room,) a young surgeon called to one of them, at the 
same time holding up the skeleton of an arm : " See, 
here is your mother's hand, that has cuffed your ears 
many a time !" Whether, as pretended, the bones 
were those of the child's mother, or whether the whole 
was only an unlucky coincidence, is wholly uncertain ; 
but not so were the consequences. The mother of the 
child had died only a short time previously, and of 
course the heartless exhibition and address affected 
him. In a trepidation of horror at what he had seen 



158 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

and heard, the child ran to his father, who was not far 
off, engaged as a mason upon a new building, and told 
him the whole story. The agonized father, sensitive 
from his recent bereavement, and at a loss what such 
a declaration might mean, proceeded to examine the 
grave of his deceased wife, which, to his utter horror, 
he found had been rifled of the body. Overwhelmed 
and petrified with grief, he returned and related his 
tale of anguish to his fellow- workmen. But with them 
rage rather than grief became the ruling passion. 
Armed with their implements of labor, they proceeded 
in a body toward the ill-omened building, gathering- 
recruits by the way, till they amounted to a formidable 
mob. The occupants fled at their approach, leaving 
everything as it was ; and the excited multitude took 
possession. Here they found additional excitants for 
their rage. In various parts of the building were 
found a number of human bodies, in various stages of 
dissection and mutilation. Maddened by the spectacle, 
the mob issued out in pursuit of the unlucky doctors, 
who, however, had the good fortune, though sometimes 
very narrowly, to escape from their pursuers. 

§ 158. How the riot continued. 

The indignation of the people against the heartless 
robbers of the grave was most intense, and almost 
universal. The multitude, however, made no dis- 
crimination, but aimed their rage against the entire 
medical profession, so that there was no safety for any 
physician within the reach of the infuriated mob. 
They were therefore placed within the jail, and there 
strongly guarded by a military force. For three or 
four days the city was in a state of intestine war ; at 



AFTER THE WAR. 159 

times the mob bore down everything before them, 
and again they gave way before the charge of the 
military forces employed by the city government. 
When it was ascertained that the doctors had taken 
refuge in the jail, that building became the principal 
object of attack and defense. One day, after a some- 
what protracted lull in the popular storm, at a con- 
certed time, a general rush of the rioters was made in 
that direction ; but the militia were there before them, 
drawn up with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. 
The governor, the mayor, and aldermen, and many 
of the principal citizens were also before the jail, 
lending their influence to the cause of law and order. 
Upon these, therefore, the infuriated mob made a 
desperate onset, and Governor Clinton was with some 
difiiculty restrained from ordering the military to fire 
upon them. In the melee Mr. Jay received a serious 
wound in the head, and the Baron Steuben was 
knocked down by a blow from a stone thrown at 
random from the mob. The kind-hearted old soldier 
had all along been very solicitous that extreme meas- 
ures should not be resorted to ; and at the very mo- 
ment of his misfortune he was earnestly engaged in 
deprecating such a fatal resort. But the blow on his 
own head wholly changed his views of the subject ; 
and, as he fell, he exclaimed aloud, *' Fire ! governor, 
fire !" The ludicrousness of the afiair quite dispelled 
any sanguinary designs that his former entreaties had 
failed to remove from the heart of the governor, and 
so the rioters escaj^ed the " leaden hail," and the city 
the horrible spectacle of a domestic massacre. 



160 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 159. How the affair ended. 

At length, exhausted by their own efforts, and per- 
haps in part avenged, the mob melted away, like a 
morning mist, and order again reigned in the city. 
Several lives had been sacrificed in the tumult, and a 
great many had been more or less severely wounded, 
who then would have gladly availed themselves of the 
aid of the objects of their recent infuriated pursuit. 
The amount of damage actually suffered was, however, 
less than might have been apprehended from the for- 
midable character of the excitement. We have no 
account of any subsequent prosecutions against the 
rioters. The affair was properly a drawn battle. 
Whether the case that first excited the popular indig- 
nation was. fact or fiction is uncertain, and at this time 
unim]^)ortant ; there is no doubt, however, that great 
blame was due to the surgeons, and especially to the 
young man whose wanton folly was the first cause of 
the excitement. Popular tumults are great evils, and 
always to be deprecated, except when they become the 
only remedies available against great popular abuses. 
It is always well for the guardians of public affairs to 
be assured that there is a limit beyond which abuses 
can not be carried without danger to the persons and 
estates of their authors. 

^ 160, A grand federal procession. 

The next incident requiring to be noticed was the 
great civic procession in honor of the ratification of 
the Federal Constitution. This great exhibition was 
doubtless among the most splendid ever witnessed in 
the city ; and, as regards the popular enthusiasm, it is 



AFTER THE WAR. 161 

probably without a rival. The morning of the 23d 
oT July, 1788, was ushered in with a federal salute 
of thirteen guns, and the ringing of the bells of the 
city. At the designated hour, the several bodies that 
were to make up the procession gathered at their re- 
spective places of rendezvous, and proceeded thence to 
their places in the line, as they were forming in " the 
fields." When duly formed the column proceeded 
down Broadway and Whitehall-street; then through 
Great Dock-street to Hanover-square ; thence up Great 
Queen-street, Chatham-street, and the Boston road to 
" Bayard's farm," where the procession halted. Here 
a splendid dinner was served to the rejoicing multi- 
tude ; and, among the other viands, was a fat ox 
roasted whole. Among the guests at this feast of joy 
were the president and members of the Continental 
Congress, the heads of departments of the general 
government, foreign ministers and other distin- 
guished strangers, and the clergy of the city. 

The procession was exclusively civic in its charac- 
ter, as no military company was present, and all its 
parts indicate at once the decidedly American, and the 
strongly federative tendency of the public sentiment. 
The procession was led by a man on horseback, per- 
sonating Christopher Columbus, who was thus recog- 
nized as the great pioneer in the westward march of em- 
pire. Next came two practical farmers, driving their 
field-teams, one drawing a plow and the other a har- 
row. These were followed by the Society of the Cin- 
cinnati, led on by their eagle banner, and dressed in 
their continental uniforms. After them came the sev- 
eral trades and professions, with appropriate ensigns 
and badges — the workmen on stages drawn by horses 



162 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

— and seeming to work at their respective trades, each 
doing something for the public service. The carpen- 
ters, especially, had a job adapted to the occasion. 
Their platform rested on ten pillars — emblems of the 
ten States that had already ratified the Constitution — 
while they were engaged upon the eleventh, which was 
inscribed "New -York," while two others lay by, em- 
blematical of the two States (Ehode-Island and North 
Carolina) that were yet outside of the federation. 

But the most interesting, as well as the most con- 
spicuous, object in the procession was the " federal 
ship," a miniature frigate of about thirty-two feet 
keel and ten feet beam, and complete in all her parts. 
She was manned by about forty seamen and marines, 
besides the usual complement of officers upon her 
quarter-deck. 

After the feast was dispatched, the procession 
threaded its way by an irregular and incommodious 
lane-way to the head of Broadway, and so to the place 
of setting out, where the whole were dismissed. In 
the evening was a grand illumination and display of 
fire-works in the Bowling-green, which, it is said, were 
not a little damaged by the pertinacious brilliancy of 
the moon. 

^ 161. Preparation for the new national government. 

The new federal constitution having been ratified 
by more than the minimum number of States required 
to give it validity, and a president and vice-president 
having been elected, as well as senators and repre- 
sentatives from most of the ratifying States, the new 
government was convoked, — the 4th of March, 1789, 
being designated as the time, and New -York as the 



AFTER THE WAR. 163 

place of meeting. This event was looked forward to 
with much satisfaction by the citizens and government 
of the city. There was, however, one great drawback 
to this general satisfaction — there was no place in the 
city in which the new government could be accommo- 
dated. 

The old Congress had held its sessions in the City 
Hall at the head of Broad-street ; but that building- 
was sadly out of repair, and only partially recovered 
from the dilapidation into which it had fallen while 
in the hands of a foreign enemy. Extensive repairs 
were absolutely demanded to render it at all suitable 
for the purposes to which it was to be appropriated, 
and neither the Continental Congress nor the city 
government could command the funds that such a 
work would require. In this emergency, with a highly 
commendable patriotism and regard for the interests 
of the city, a number of private citizens advanced the 
necessary amount (^32,500) to the city authorities.' 
The building was then remodeled and thoroughly 
repaired, and the renovated edifice — now named " Fed- 
eral Hall " — placed at the disposal of the new federal 
government. This work was not completed, however, 
till nearly two months after the time it was to have 
been occupied. The 4th of March came, but not the 
pageant of the expected inauguration. Salutes of 
cannon, and peals from the bells of the city were 
sounded at sunrise, noon, and sunset ; but only eight 
senators and thirteen representatives were in attend- 
ance. Nearly a month passed before a quorum of 
each House could be obtained, and then almost an- 
other month was spent awaiting the arrival of the 
president elect. 



164 CITY OP NEW-YORK 

§ 162. Inauguration of President Washington. 

General Washington arrived in New -York, to as- 
sume the hitherto untried duties of the new govern- 
ment of the United States under the federal consti- 
tution, on the 23d day of April, 1789, and just a 
week later (the 30th) took place the ceremony of the 
inauguration- The place selected for this imposing 
scene was the balcony of the senate-chamber, which, 
being elevated and opening to the south toward Broad- 
street, afforded a favorable view to the multitude of 
spectators. At nine o'clock religious services were 
held in all the churches in the city — a commendable 
recognition of the dependence of the new government 
upon the protection of Heaven. At a little past noon 
the president elect proceeded from his lodgings, es- 
corted by a troop of cavalry, and attended by a com- 
mittee of Congress, and the heads of departments of 
Ihe old government in carriages, followed by two or 
three resident foreign ministers, and a great concourse 
of citizens. Having been conducted to the senate- 
chamber, he was there received by the two houses of 
the new Congress, and presently informed by the vice- 
president, acting as president of the senate and chair- 
man of the convention of the two houses, that all 
things were ready for the administration of the re- 
quired oath of office. The august assembly then pro- 
ceeded to the open gallery immediately in front of the 
senate-chamber, and there, in sight of the multitudes 
that filled the open space on all sides, Eobert E. Liv- 
ingston, Chancellor of the State of New -York, pro- 
ceeded to administer the oath of office to the new presi- 
dent. This done, Livingston, with a firm and audible 



AFTER THE WAR. 165 

voice, added, "Long live George Wasliington, Presi- 
dent of the United States V The response given to 
this se*ntiment was loud, long, and enthusiastic; — such 
as may be heard only when a multitude is deeply and 
thoroughly'- affected by a common soul-stirring senti- 
ment, uttered with mingled sobs and tears of joy. 
The inaugural address was then read in the senate- 
chamber, after which the members of the new govern- 
ment proceeded in a body to St. PauFs church, where 
prayers suited to the occasion were read by the re- 
cently ordained Bishop Provoost, who had also been 
chosen chaplain to the senate. The day closed with 
the usual display of fire-works and illuminations. 

§ 163. New-York the national capital. 

The proceedings of the general government, though 
located in New- York, do not come within the designs 
of a purely local history. Yet the presence of the 
government in that city, though only for the brief 
period of a little more than a year after the new or- 
ganization, did not fail to make a decided impression 
upon its society, as well as upon its municipal prog- 
ress. The population of the city was increased by 
the presence of the officers and agents of the govern- 
ment, and much more by those who, for purposes of 
pleasure or business, followed in their train. The 
manners of the people were also greatly, and, on the 
whole, favorably affected by the presence of so large 
a number of persons representing the better educated 
classes of all parts of the Union, as well as from 
foreign countries. During this period there were 
also in the city a great number of the veterans of 
the revolutionary army hanging around the govern- 



166 



CITY OF NEW-YORK. 



ment — either from attachment to their former com- 
mander-in-chief, or more frequently as expectant pe- 
titioners for the means of subsistence. These disband- 
ed soldiers composed a notable element of society, as 
they were accustomed to mingle in the social gath- 
erings of the citizens and incumbents of government 
offices, or* to parade the streets, with their soldierly 
beariugs and razeed uniforms. 

The first Congress held its first and second sessions 
in New -York; and in that period the wheels of the 
federal government were gotteii fairly in motion, and 
a line of policy adopted, which, with some modifica- 
tions, continues to the present time. The people of 
New -York would have gladly induced Congress to 
make their city the permanent capital of the nation, 
but a more southern locality was demanded by a ma- 
jority of the people's representatives. Accordingly, 
at the close of the second session, the government was 
removed to Philadelphia, to which place Congress had 
adjourned. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 167 

CHAPTEE VIIL 

CONDITION AND PROGRESS — 1790-1 810. 

§ 164. Further extension. 

I The twenty years reaching from 1790 to 1810, formed 
a period of unprecedented prosperity in the pecuniary 
and industrial affairs of New -York. During this 
time also the city suffered most severely from the 
visitations of disease^ In 1791 the old wards were all 
abolished and a new distribution made, and the new 
wards, instead of being named, as were the old ones, 
were numbered from one to seven. During this and 
the next year many new streets were opened, and 
others formerly opened for a portion of their present 
length, were greatly extended. Many new buildings 
were also erected, some of them of a class somewhat 
advanced above the style that had generally prevailed 
hitherto. The shore of the East Eiver, above Coen ties- 
slip, was especially a scene of activity at this time, 
and at that early period the encroachments upon the 
water were carried to a point beyond which they have 
not since been permitted to extend. On the East 
River a point had been already reached beyond which 
it was not considered proper to carry out the water 
line; and, accordingly, a law was procured from the 
State legislature, forbidding the extension of the 
wharves beyond a point already reached by some of 
them. Toward the Hudson River the city was also 
advancing rapidly, and soon after West-street was 
surveyed and laid out, and made the permanent limit 
of the city in that direction ; and " up-town," that is, 



168 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

about the College, the Common, Chatham-street, and 
Catharine-street, the city was advancing with an un- 
paralleled growth. 

^ 165. Consolidation of the city's plan. 

The advancement of the city induced the corpora- 
tion to give increased attention to laying out new 
streets, and regulating those that had been before 
projected. A system was then adopted, which, as 
carried out, has given to the middle portions of our 
city a good degree of regularity, as well as furnished 
it with capacious and convenient thoroughfares. 
Though less rigidly exact than some of its sister 
cities, and even less so than its own newer portions, 
the middle region of New -York may compare advan- 
tageously, in point of practical convenience, with al- 
most any city in the land. Much was also done at 
this time to remedy the defects of the plan of the 
older portion of the city. Many of the continuous 
ways had been broken up into parts and called by dif- 
ferent names, but now these fragments of streets were 
consolidated. Smith-street extended from the " Vley '^ 
up to Wall-street, where William-street commenced 
and extended to Frankfort-street, and from that point 
King George-street reached to Pearl : all these were 
now reduced to a single street, and the name of Wil- 
liam-street applied to the whole. The extension of 
Broadway above St. PauVs church, along the west side 
of the Common, had been called Great George-street, 
which name was abolished, and a common name given 
to the entire street. Little Dock-street, Pearl-street, 
Hanover-square, and Great Queen-street, were con- 
solidated into the present Pearl-street, as far up as 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 1G9 

Chatham-street. Princess-street was given to Beaver- 
street. Stone-street was increased by the annexation 
of Duke-street, and the alley leading to Hanover- 
square. Verlettenberg, or Flatten Barrack-street, lead- 
ing from Broad-street to Broadway, was united to 
Garden-street, leading from the same point eastward, 
making the street now called Exchange-place. The 
name of King-street was changed to Pine-street ; 
Little Queen, to Cedar ; Crown, to Liberty ; and 
Prince, to Kose — thus, for a while, obliterating the 
very names of royalty from the map of the city, which, 
as monuments of foreign domination, had become 
hateful to the people. 

^ 166. New public edifices — resources. 

Several public buildings for city purposes, as well 
as individual enterprise, were erected about this time. 
Of the latter class was the Tontine Coffee-House in 
Wall-street, built by an association of capitalists in 
1792, and for a long time the most celebrated hotel 
in the city. In 1794 the new alms-house in Cham- 
bers-street (directly in the rear of the City Hall) was 
begun, and completed the next year. To aid the 
city in that undertaking, the legislature of the State 
granted X10,000, to be raised by a lottery. It is a 
gratifying evidence of the improved morality of the 
times, that a practice then sanctioned by law, and en- 
gaged in by good citizens, is now justly abhorred, and 
proscribed by stringent penal enactments. At that 
time the whole number of paupers dependent on pub- 
lic charity was six hundred and twenty- two, for whose 
maintenance the city paid annually more than ^20,000. 
Soon after this the property near Kip's Bay, since 

8 



170 CITY OP NEW-YORK. 

known as Bellevue, and till recently the seat of the city 
alms-house and hospitals, was purchased for £2,000. 
There were also ahout that time seventy-three per- 
sons, on an average, in hridewell, who cost ;S1,500 a 
year over their earnings. The New -York dispensary, 
since so efficient in affording medical relief to the 
diseased poor, was incorporated that year, and the 
next year the new state-prison at Greenwich was he- 
gun. The Park theater, the first allowed in the city, 
was completed and opened to the puhlic, a few years 
later. In 1795 the ferry to Paulus Hook (Jersey 
City) was leased for X250 per year; the Hohoken 
ferry for £95 ; that to Staten Island had before been 
rented for £20 ; and two years later the Brooklyn 
ferry brought £800. In 1793 the income from tav- 
ern licenses and market fees was more than £2,000; 
and in 1800 the wharves, slips, and piers, were leased 
for ;gl,200. The auction duties for 1798 amounted 
to ^2,583. 

§ 167. Increase of commerce. 
' As the source of the progress so plainly seen in all 
departments of the affairs of the city, its commercial 
prosperity is especially worthy of notice. Taking a 
period of thirteen years, extending from 1789 to 1801, 
both inclusive, a most astonishing increase is shown. 
During this period the duties on foreign goods im- 
ported into New-Tork advanced from less than 
)S(loO,000, collected in the first of those years, to near- 
ly ;^5,000,000 in the last. The tonnage of American 
vessels engaged in foreign trade was, in 1789, eighteen 
thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight; in 1801, 
one hundred and forty-six thousand two hundred and 
thirty-two. In the coasting- trade the incroa^ie v/a.i 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 171 

from less than five thousand to thirty-four thousand 
tons. The foreign vessels increased in the same time 
ahout three-fold, and amounted at the end to sixty 
thousand tons. During the same period the value 
of exports increased from ;S)2,500,000 to almost 
pO,000,000. Before the Eevolution they had never 
reached ^500,000 in any single year. These dry de- 
tails tell the whole story, and prove beyond a ques- 
tion that as New -York lives by commerce, so it has 
ever owed its prosperity to that form of productive 
industry. It is also evident that the character of the 
city, as a great emporium of trade, became definitely 
settled during the few later years of the last century. / 

§ 168. New church edifices. 

During the period now especially under notice, a 
commendable interest was evinced in the matter of 
providing for the religious wants of the city. Christ- 
church (afterward removed to Anthony-street) was 
erected in Ann-street in 1794 ; and two years later, 
St. Mark's, at Stuyvesant's Place, two miles from the 
city ; also a Baptist church in Oliver-street. In 1797 
two Presbyterian churches were erected, one in Pearl- 
street, and the other in Eutger's-street, out of town, 
toward Corlaer's Hook. Zion's (Episcopal) church 
was built in 1801 ; and St. Stephen's, in First (Christie) 
street, in 1805. In 1809 Grace church was founded 
as an independent Episcopal church, occupying the 
site of the old Lutheran church in Broadway, below 
Trinity church ; and the next year St. John's chapel, 
in Varick-street, then quite beyond the limits of the 
city. Two or three small houses of worship were 
erected by the Baptists during the first few years of 



172 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

the present century. A Methodist church, the second 
in the city of that denomination, was built in Second 
(Forsyth) street in 1789 ; and another, the third, in 
Duane-street, near the North Kiver, in 1797. A 
church for colored people, of the same denomination, 
was established in Church-street in 1800; and only a 
few years later a Methodist church was erected in 
Allen-street, and another in Bedford-street, in Green- 
wich village. 

§ 169. The New -York pulpit. 

At no time has the people of New -York enjoyed the 
labors of a greater proportion of eminent divines than 
during the latter years of the last century and the 
former of this. Bishop Provoost was at once bishop of 
the diocese and rector of Trinity Church, and on ac- 
count of the smallness of his diocesan duties beyond 
the city, he was able to devote most of his labors to 
that parish, in which he was assisted by his not less 
eminent successor. Dr. Benjamin Moore. The Presby- 
terian Church in Wall-street enjoyed the services of 
Dr. John Eogers till removed by death, when his 
place was supplied, with scarcely less ability, by the 
late Dr. Miller, of Princeton, then just commencing 
his ministry ; and that in Cedar-street was served by 
the celebrated Dr. Eomeyn. The Keformed Dutch 
church was first occupied by Dr. Livingston, and, after 
his decease, by Dr. Abeel. Dr. John Mason was then 
just appearing before the public, and giving the first 
indications of that powerful intellect which has given 
luster to his reputation, while the history of his over- 
tasked energies remains a beacon to warn others of the 
dangers to which he became a victim. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 173 

§ 170. Frequent and extensive visitations of yellow- fever. 

During tlie period embraced in tliis chapter, New- 
York was frequently and severely scourged with the 
yellow-fever, in the form of an epidemic. After the 
lapse of fifty years, since its last departure, it appear- 
ed again in 1791, in a comparatively mild form, and 
was confined to a limited region about Burling-slip. 
.The next year it prevailed very malignantly in Phila- 
delphia, and strict quarantine regulations were main- 
tained in New -York to prevent its importation ; and 
during that year the city escaped. But early in the 
summer of 1795 it appeared suddenly in New -York, 
and continued to rage till the coming on of cold 
weather. A large portion of the inhabitants fled 
from the city, and nearly all forms of business ex- 
perienced a complete stagnation. The whole number 
of deaths by yellow-fever amounted to about seven 
hundred and fifty, or at the rate of about one and a 
half per cent, of the whole population of the city. In 
1798 the epidemic returned again, and though it did 
not appear till near the beginning of August, it great- 
ly exceeded in fatality that which had preceded it. 
More than two thousand persons died of the epidemic, 
and a thousand more died of its efiects ; and as the 
population of the city did not probably exceed about 
thirty thousand during the prevalence of the pesti- 
lence, it appears that a tenth of these fell victims to 
this scourge. 

§ 171. Causes of the epidemic — its recurrence. 

An investigation into the causes of this epidemic, 
made by " a large and respectable committee of the 



174 CITY OF NEW- YORK. 

citizens, the physicians, and of the corporation," pre- 
sented only the ordinary causes of disease in large 
cities. Among these they enumerated " deep, damp 
cellars, and sunken yards, unfinished water-lots, public 
slips, containing filth and stagnant water, hurials in 
the city, narrow and filthy streets, tippling-houses, 
(more than a thousand were licensed that year,) and 
want of an adequate supply of pure and wholesome 
water." The epidemic returned the next year, though 
it prevailed to a comparatively slight degree, and 
again in 1801, and yet again in 1803. The next year 
it broke out in Brooklyn, and caused between forty 
and fifty deaths, but did not appear in the city. But 
in 1805 it raged with very considerable violence, pro- 
ducing a great panic and flight from the city, and 
seriously deranging business. The mortality, how- 
ever, was small, compared with what occurred seven 
years before, amounting to only about three hundred. 
After this the yellow-fever did not appear again in 
New -York for fourteen years. 



iTli 



§ 172. Benevolence elicited by the epidefnic. 

These frequent visitations of that most terrible 
malady, with all its evils, was also the occasion of 
much good to New -York. The necessities of the poor 
called loudly for the aid of the benevolent, and the 
call was nobly responded to by the citizens generally. 
The people thus became accustomed to care for the 
poor and afflicted, and a spirit of active and generous 
benevolence was evoked and called into habitual exer- 
cise in their behalf — a spirit and practice that has 
ever since been the crowning glory of the citizens of 
New -York. The great mortality among the poor, 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 175 

and among strangers, induced tlie corporation to make 
some more adequate provision for interments, without 
expense, to those who would avail themselves of such 
provision ; and accordingly Potters-field (now Wash- 
ington-square) was purchased, and appropriated for a 
free burying-ground. The quarantine regulations of 
the city were more fully defined and rigidly enforced. 
Bedlow's Island was given up to the State as a site 
for a lazaretto. Increased attention was given to the 
statistics of disease and death, and the bills of mor- 
tality were ordered to be carefully made up, and 
regularly published. The physicians became more 
active in anticipating and preventing disease, as well 
as in curing it ; and a great amount of gratuitous 
practice began to be given to the poor. A board of 
health was, during this period, first organized in the 
city. 

§ 173. A supply of pure water — the Manhattan Company. 

The subject of supplying the city with pure and 
wholesome water occupied much of the attention of 
the citizens at this period, and was the theme of many 
long and interesting discussions among the public men 
of the city. The necessity of some better supply was 
universally confessed ; but any plan that at all prom- 
ised an adequate supply required an amount of money 
for its accomplishment (^1,000,000) greater than the 
corporation felt willing to expend. A private corpo- 
ration — the Manhattan Company — was, therefore, or- 
ganized and chartered in 1799, which promised to 
perform the needed work. To this company was given 
the exclusive use of all the springs and streams on 
the island, as well as the exclusive right to supply 



176 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

water to the city. The company proceeded at once to 
organize, and to prosecute the object proposed in its 
charter. Deep wells were sunk directly back of the 
alms-house, near the border of the lake, or " Collect," 
aflPording an abundant supply of water, which was 
forced by a steam-engine into a reservoir, from which 
it was distributed in wooden pipes, laid along the 
streets under ground, to all parts of the city. In 
1808 the capital and real estate of the company 
amounted to ;gr72,000. Two thousand three hundred 
and sixteen houses and fountains were supplied, and 
th-e company's affairs were considered generally pros- 
perous. But it soon after became evident that, as an 
expedient for supplying the city with water, this pro- 
vision was quite insufficient. 

^ 174. Increase of population. 

Notwithstanding the frequent recurrence of epidem- 
ical diseases, the population of New -York increased 
steadily, and with unprecedented rapidity. The ac- 
cession of numbers was at the rate of about three thou- 
sand yearly. At the general census in 1800, New- 
York had over sixty thousand inhabitants, having 
nearly doubled in ten years; and five years later it 
had reached seventy-five thousand. The composition of 
the population, as to race and country, was also highly 
gratifying. The colored population, which, for a hun- 
dred years before the Kevolution, had constituted a 
sixth part of the whole — most of them slaves — had 
declined relatively nearly one-half, and slavery was 
rapidly verging toward complete extinction. The 
proportion of aliens was likewise inconsiderable, and 
among the native inhabitants the old lines of distinc- 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 177 

tion and original nationalities had become almost 
wholly effaced, and the population of New -York pre- 
sented a well-defined and homogeneous character, which 
it has maintained until very recently. 

§ 175. Enlargement of the city. 

About the beginning of the present century, New- 
York fairly overleaped the boundaries that seemed for 
a while to confine it. A line of low grounds and 
water-courses extended quite across the island, from 
the Great Swamp on the East Eiver, through the 
Fresh-AYater pond and Lispenard^s meadows to the 
Hudson, cutting off the city from the high ground 
beyond. For a long time the only public highway 
over this low ground was the Boston road, which 
passed over a bridge near the head of Koosevelt-street. 
Eecently a passage had been made on the shore of the 
Hudson, pretty nearly answering to the present Green- 
wich-street. But the growth of the city naturally 
caused it to expand beyond its former limits, and with 
the beginning of the nineteenth century the city began 
its progress " up-town," which has not yet been arrest- 
ed. Down to that time the little lake of pure spring 
water had occupied its central position in the island, 
and its possession had never been even threatened 
with prospective disturbance. Hoosevelt-street already 
covered its eastern outlet, and the opening of the 
Greenwich road had cut it off from the river on that 
side also, and now Broadway was to be led across tlie 
deep ravine that separated the twin hills that lay 
above and below it. Before that was done, however, 
Brennan (Spring) street had been laid out from the 
Hudson Eiver across the island toward the Bowery 

8* 



178 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

road ; and on both sides of that road streets had been 
opened, both parallel and perpendicular to it, which 
were already partially occupied by gentlemen's coun- 
try residences and the humble cottages of the poor, 
who had gone beyond the city to obtain pure air and 
cheap rents. All along the East Eiver, up as far as 
Corlear's Hook, streets had been projected, and some 
of them opened and partially occupied. 

§ 176. Greenwich and Bowery villages. 

About two miles above the city were two small and 
irregular villages — one on either side of the island. 
Of these Greenwich, on the Hudson Eiver, was much 
the most populous ; and continuing to increase it 
became a large suburb, till it was finally swallowed 
up by the increasing magnitude of the city. Its 
identity is still traceable in the want of conformity of 
the plan of this quarter of the city to that of the por- 
tions that surround it. On the east side, on the Bow- 
ery road near the homestead of the Stuy vesants, there 
was a cluster of dwellings that at length became a 
village ; and that in its turn was merged in the great 
city. Eastward from the Bowery the plan of the 
city was limited by North (Houston) street, beyond 
which it was deemed impossible that it could be ex- 
tended. Broadway was laid out so as to extend in a 
right line upward till it should intersect the Boston 
road, now called the Bowery ; and between this and 
the Bowery a number of streets were opened. West 
of Broadway the northern line of the plan of the city 
was first at Spring-street, and several years later at 
Houston-street, eastward from Greenwich. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 179 

§ 177. The " Collect^^'' or fresh-water pond. 

The advancement of the city, however, seemed to be 
retarded and its plan misshapen bj the unregulated 
localities about the Presh Pond — or, as the Dutch de- 
nominated it, the Kolch, Avhich name had now become 
pretty generally current, but half-translated and half- 
corrupted into the " Collect.'^ This little lake was 
even then, after all the marrings it had received from 
the hand of art, a deep, broad, and pure sheet of wa- 
ter, fed by perennial springs, and affording a plentiful 
supply of its useful element for all the wants of the 
city. Its southern and eastern banks were now lined 
with furnaces, potteries, breweries, tanneries, and rope- 
walks, all drawing from it their supplies of water. 
It was also used for purposes of pleasure and recrea- 
tion. In summer it was the scene of rural aquatic 
excursions, and in winter the grand resort of the 
youth for skating. These exhilarating sports are 
thus described by one'-' who was himself a participant 
in them : — " No person who has not beheld it can 
realize the scene it then exhibited, in contrast to that 
part of the city under which it now lies buried. The 
ground between the Collect and Broadway rose grad- 
ually from its margin to the height of one hundred 
feet ; and nothing can exceed, in brilliancy and ani- 
mation, the prospect it presented on a fine winter-day, 
when the icy surface was alive with skaters, darting 
in every direction with the swiftness of the wind, or 
bearing down in a body in pursuit of the ball driven 
before them by their hurlies ; while the hillside was 

"' Hon. W. A. Dmr, — Address before tlie St. Nicholas Society, 
1849. 



180 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

covered witli spectators, rising as in an amphitheatre, 
tier above tier, comprising as many of the fair sex as 
were sufficient to adorn, and necessary to refine the 
assemblage — while their presence served to increase 
the emulation of the skaters." 

^ 178. Early steam navigation on the " Collect.'''' 

This little lake, now forever blotted from the map 
of our city, was also the scene of one of the most in- 
teresting, and, as respects its results, one of the most 
important events that the world ever saw. That was 
nothing less than the original experiment in steam 
navigation. Here, in 1795, was exhibited by John 
Stevens, of Hoboken, a boat with a screw propeller 
driven by a steam engine. The next year another 
experiment was made in the same place by John 
Fitch, the real inventor of steam navigation, with a 
ship^s yawl, into which he had placed a rude steam- 
engine of his own construction, with paddle-wheels at 
the sides of the boat. These experiments, with Fitch's 
invention, were made in the presence and under the 
inspection of Chancellor Livingston, and Stevens, and 
Roosevelt, and doubtless afibrded many of the facts 
and suggestions through which Fulton made the art 
available for useful purposes. Fitch was in advance 
of the men of his own times, and so was not appre- 
ciated ; but justice should now be rendered to his 
name, and the city of New -York, whicli owes so much 
to steam navigation, should not fail to do honor to its 
original inventor, who, after a life of fruitful experi- 
ments and labors, died in poverty and obscurity. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 181 

§ 179. The powder-house knoll. 

An island toward the western end of the Collect had 
long heen occupied by a magazine for storing gun- 
powder. This island was at length united to the 
main-land hy a dike and causeway, to which a street 
led from Broadway, called Magazine-street ; and, still 
later, it was extended eastward also to Chatham-street. 
Magazine-street has since been made a continuation of 
Pearl-street, by which addition that famous thorough- 
fare is rendered a little the most crooked and irregular 
in this city of crooked and irregular streets. 

§ 180. A plan for converting the " Collect'*'' into a park. 

In 1789 a plan was proposed for converting this 
pond and the grounds adjacent to the embellishment 
of the city. A company was organized, and a plan 
drawn for a park, to embrace the entire Collect, and 
extending from Eeade-street northward to the present 
location of Grand-street, and including the eminence 
to the north-east, commonly called Bunker's Hill. 
The company looked to the sale of lots, to be laid out 
around the park, to more than remunerate them for 
their expenses. But the thrifty manufacturers, whose 
establishments lined the sides of the water, had more 
confidence in their shops and trades than in the pro- 
posed speculation ; and capitalists generally were slow 
to believe that the future growth of the city would 
justify the expectations on which tlie proposed outlay 
was to be built, and so the whole scheme failed to be 
realized. 



182 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

^ 181. Another plan to make it an inland basin. 

It was subsequently proposed to render the Collect 
subservient to the interests of commerce by making 
it a great inland dock, connected by sbip-canals with 
both rivers, and having its shores fringed with wharves 
and warehouses. By actual surveys, the practicability 
of the plan was proved beyond a question. The sur- 
face of the pond was about thirteen feet above the 
surrounding waters, so that only the depth necessary 
for purposes of commerce would be required to give a 
free circulation to the tide through the canal. This 
plan also contemplated the redemption of about four 
hundred acres of land from the marshes, which, being 
completely drained by the canal, would become avail- 
able as sites for residences, and the alarming evils 
feared, and since realized, by the choking up of this 
morass, would be effectually avoided. The distance 
from river to river over the route proposed for the 
canal, was found to be a little more than a mile and 
a quarter. 

§ 182. The " Collect ^''finally and totally destroyed. 

But while a portion of the citizens were thus con- 
sulting in regard to the great interests of the city in 
these matters, individual enterprize, without concert 
or general system, was pushing forward the growth 
of the city, till the very existence of the quiet little 
lake began to be in danger. Both on its eastern and 
western sides the streets began to project up beyond 
it, and the cross streets headed hard down aa'ainst 
it. The extension of Magazine-street eastward divided 
the pond into two parts, called the great and the little 



CONDITION AND PROaRESS. 183 

Collect. Soon after the " Powder-house knoll " was 
cut down and thrown into the water; and not much 
later, " Bunker Hill'' followed in the same inglorious 
path. Broadway had heen ordered to be extended 
through the hills and across the intervening ravine 
to the region traversed by the great cross-road, cover- 
ing the present site of Spring-street. The grand level- 
ing system, by which the natural landmarks of a 
great portion of Manhattan Island have become en- 
tirely effaced, then began an efficient course of opera- 
tion, and in a short time one of the most irregular 
portions of the ground-plot of the city — comprising 
the present sixth ward — was dug down or filled up, as 
the case required. Under the operation of this sys- 
tem the Collect at length totally disappeared, and in 
its place we have the region of the Five Points ; the 
seat of the Halls of Justice, commonly called the 
Tombs; and, till just now, have had the Arsenal — a 
poor exchange for what it was, or what it might have 
been made. 

" The destruction of the Collect," says the writer 
just quoted, '' is the great opprobrium of our muni- 
cipal legislation. It cut off the spring from which 
the city was supplied with pure and wholesome water 
from a perennial source, and in a volume sufficient 
for its permanent supply, at a cost not to be mentioned 
in comparison with that of the Croton aqueduct ; 
while, in lieu of a clear and picturesque sheet of living 
water in the heart of the city, which, if preserved, 
would have conduced to its salubrity, and might have 
been rendered its greatest ornament, has been sub- 
stituted a damp and sunken district, which, if capable 
of any further improvement than that derived from 



184 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

the Arsenal and Halls of Justice, is certainly not cal- 
culated to invite it/' 

§ 183. Great fire in Front-street. 

This prosperity of the city was, however, attended 
by some unfavorable and even disastrous accompani- 
ments. In addition to the frequent recurrence and 
great fatality of yellow-fever, the city suffered greatly 
from the ravages of fire. On the night of the 18th 
of December, 1804, a fire broke out at about two 
o'clock in a grocery-store in Front-street, not far from 
Wall-street, which, being favored by a high wind and 
an intensely cold air, progressed very rapidly ; and as 
the firemen assembled rather tardily, and the engines 
,were worked with difficulty on account of the cold, it 
obtained great headway, and destroyed a large amount 
of valuable property. It burned the whole block on 
the west side of Coffee House-slip, in Water-street, to 
Gouverneur-lane, including all the buildings in Front- 
street to the water, and on the east of Wall-street 
down to the slip. Among the buildings destroyed 
were the old Coffee House, and several valuable brick 
stores ; but most of them were wooden structures of 
no great value, which were soon replaced by new and 
fire-proof edifices. About forty buildings in all were 
consumed, and the destruction of property estimated 
to amount to about $2,000,000. 

^ 184. Cold winter of 1804-5. 

The winter in which this fire occurred was remark- 
able for its severity, and for the suffering caused by 
it among the poor, especially for want of fuel. Im- 
mense quantities of snow encumbered the streets, and 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 185 

in many cases rendered them almost impassable. 
Nearly all kinds of business were suspended or greatly 
curtailed ; fuel rose to an exorbitant price, while the 
poorer classes were without employment, and conse- 
quently destitute of the means to purchase at any 
price. But, with characteristic zeal and alacrity, the 
corporation and private citizens devoted themselves 
to their relief. Large amounts of fuel and provisions 
were distributed by the corporation, and by temporary 
associations of benevolent individuals, for the benefit 
of the poor. 

^ 185. The City Hall projected and built. 

The rapid extension of the city toward the north, 
ai the beginning of the present century, began to sug- 
gest the necessity of fixing a permanent location for 
the public buildings at some suitable point above the 
old and densely occupied part of the city; and the 
lower part of the Common, already occupied by the 
bridewell, jail, and alms-house, was selected as the 
site of the new City Hall.'" In October, 1802, the 
Common Council voted to erect such a building, to 
cost tiventy-five thousand dollars, and a premium was 
offered for the best plan ; but no plan could be made 
that was at all acceptable that did not very far ex- 
ceed the sum designated by the vote of the corpora- 
tion. At length, after much doubt and hesitation, 
the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
was devoted to that object, a plan adopted, and con- 
tracts for building made ; and on the 20th of Septem- 
ber, 1803, the foundation-stone of the new edifice was 
laid by the mayor of the city, Edward Livingston, 

'•' See Frontispiece. 



186 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

with all due ceremony. The marble of which the 
City Hall was built was brought from Stockbridge, in 
Massachusetts, a distance of one hundred and forty 
miles, though now marble of a superior quality is 
quarried only a few miles from the city. But these 
rich supplies of excellent building materials, which 
are now contributing so much to the embellishment 
and value of New -York, were then entirely unknown. 
The marble was to be delivered in New -York at a 
dollar and six cents per foot, which price was after- 
ward increased to a dollar and twenty-five cents ; but 
the contract proved ruinous to the undertaker, and 
was at length abandoned. A new contract was then 
made, by which three dollars per foot were allowed. 
The copper used in roofing the new edifice was im- 
ported from England, and cost the city ten thousand 
five hundred dollars. In 1811 the corporation ofiices 
were removed to the new hall, although the work was 
not completed till the next year. The whole cost, ex- 
clusive of the furniture, was half a million of dollars, 
or just twice the amount of the original contract. At 
the time of its erection, the new City Hall was among 
the noblest structures in the whole country ; nor has 
the lapse of forty years since it was finislied, though 
in that time the wealth of the country has been vastly 
augmented, and attention to architecture gTeatly in- 
creased, removed it from its place in tlie first class of 
public edifices in America. It stands as a monument 
of the foresight and public spirit of the public men of 
New -York, who, in the comparative infancy of the 
city, and with its limited resources, . conceived and 
executed so noble a work. 



CONDITION AND PROGRESS. 187 

i} 186. Introduction of steam navigation. 

The year 1807 will ever be memorable in the an- 
nals of the city of New -York, as the time of the first 
successful experiment in an art that is rapidly revo- 
lutionizing the commercial and social affairs of the 
world. It was in that year that the first steamboat 
ever built, capable of being applied to useful purposes, 
was launched upon the waters of the Hudson, and be- 
gan plying between New- York and Albany. That 
vessel was the " Clermont,^^ which had been construct- 
ed under the personal supervision of Eobert Fulton, 
the justly celebrated father of steam navigation. 
It was at first one hundred feefc long, twelve feet wide, 
and seven feet deep ; the next year it was lengthened 
to one hundred and fifty feet, and widened to eigh- 
teeUj and its name changed to the North Eiver. 
The passage to Albany was made in thirty-six hours, 
and at an expense of seven dollars. A contemporary 
record states that " Mr. Fulton's new steamboat left 
New -York on the 2d [of October, 1807,] at 10 o'clock, 
A. M., against a strong tide, very rough water, and a 
violent gale from the north. She made headway 
beyond the most sanguine expectations, and without 
being rocked by the waves." Such was the beginning 
of steam navigation — the noblest material agency of 
the spirit of the age — the great instrument of " prog- 
ress." 

^ 187. Further enlargement of the city. 

After the city had gotten fairly over the swampy 
barrier that for a while confined it to the lower ex- 
tremity of the island, it extended with unprecedented 
rapidity, and at the close of the period embraced in 



188 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

this chapter (1810) it covered more than four times 
the area that it embraced twenty years before. Broad- 
way had been opened through to the Bowery, and on 
either side streets were laid out as far up as Amity 
and Great Jones-streets. In 1808 the corporation of 
Trinity Church ceded to the city the ground for the 
streets covering the region extending from St. John's 
church to Greenwich village, and from Hudson-street 
to the river. Hudson-square was laid out about the 
same time. To the east of the Bowery, the streets run- 
ning eastward were laid out as high up as North (Hous- 
ton) street, which had been fixed as the permanent 
boundary of the city ; and crossing these the present 
streets were laid out as far east as Norfolk-street. 

^ 188. Increase of population, commerce, etc. 

The population of the city in 1810 was over ninety- 
six thousand ; having added thirty-six thousand in ten 
years, and increased nearly threefold in twenty years. 
The commerce of the city had made an equally 
encouraging progress down to 1808, when it was sud- 
denly checked by the unsettled state of our foreign 
affairs, and soon after almost annihilated bv the em- 
bargo. The duties on foreign goods collected in the 
port of New -York during the year 1807 amounted to 
nearly ;J8,000,000, and the exports for the same year 
exceeded $26,000,000. The auction-tax for 1808 pro- 
duced over $24,000 ; the Brooklyn ferry leased for 
p,050, and the wharves and piers for $17,000. The 
amount of market-fees for the next year was over 
$6,000, and the tavern-fees as much more. The city's 
funded debts amounted to $900,000. But a change 
was impending. 



m THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 189 

CHAPTEE IX. 

NEW-YORK IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
§ 189. Commercial embarrassments — the embargo. 

The rapid advancement of the city of New -York 
during the period embraced in the last chapter, re- 
sulting from its commercial prosperity, received a 
serious check before the close of that period. The 
bloody wars that were raging in Europe during the 
early part of the present century, especially that 
between France and Great Britain, greatly embar- 
rassed the commerce of the United States, and at the 
same time endangered the foreign relations of the 
government. 'Accordingly, to prevent collisions, and 
to secure our commerce from foreign spoliations, a 
general embargo was, in 1808, imposed by an act of 
Congress. The effect of this law was fatal to the 
commerce of the whole country, and of course it was 
ruinous to the prosperity of New -York. Though the 
embargo was in force but a few months, (for it was so 
unacceptable to the people that Congress repealed it 
at the next session,) yet the loss to the government 
in duties at the single port of New -York amounted, 
in the two years, a part of which were embraced in 
the time of the embargo, as compared with the pre- 
ceding year, to more than seven millions of dollars ; 
and the exports for those two years were but little 
more than half of that for the single year of 1807. 
The repeal of the embargo, and the restoration of 
comparative quiet in Europe, reassured the merchants 
of New -York, so that during the ensuing year com- 



190 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

merce revived again, thougli it was still mncli below 
the point it had reached before the embargo was im- 
posed. The progress of the city was greatly impeded 
by these interruptions to its commerce, and the con- 
sequent depression of all kinds of business among the 
citizens. | 

§ 190. Public defenses projected. 
The unsettled state of European affairs, and the 
threatening aspect assumed by some of the belliger- 
ents toward the United States, suggested the neces- 
sity of fortifying more eflPectually the principal sea- 
port towns. As early as 1806 some movements in 
that direction had been made in New -York. The old 
Potter's-field, at the junction of the Bloomingdale 
and Post-roads, was ceded to the general government, 
on which an extensive arsenal was erected. The 
ground under water off from the Battery was also 
granted, and a fortress called Castle Clinton erected 
upon it — the modern Castle Garden. Fort Ganse- 
voort, at Greenwich village, and the battery at the 
foot of Hubert-street, were constructed about the same 
time, the whole costing the government several mil- 
lions of dollars. 

§ 191. Fortification of the harbor. 

In 1807 Colonel Williams, of the United States 
engineers, made a long report to the common council 
as to the best mode of fortifying the city and harbor. 
At his suggestion the fortress on Governor's Island, 
that bears his name, was afterward built, as well as 
several other works of defense at the Narrows, and on 
Ellis's and Bedlow's Islands. The whole amount of 
ordnance found in and about the city was only about 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 191 

one hundred and twenty pieces, of all sizes, part of 
them belonging to the State, and part to the national 
government. At a little later period the State Ar- 
senal in Elm-street, near the site of the old powder- 
house in the Collect, was built, and substituted for the 
old and insufficient one formerly occupied, which stood 
in Chatham-street, near Try on Eow. 

§ 193. Mayoralty of Be Witt Clinton. 

A lull occurred about the year 1810 in the storm 
of warlike excitement that had been sweeping over 
the city for some time past, and affairs began again to 
assume their former quiet and prosperous state. The 
next year De Witt Clinton, afterward governor of the 
State, and projector of the great Erie Canal, who, with 
the exception of two brief intervals of a year each, 
during which that office was held by Colonel Marinus 
Willet and Jacob Eadcliff respectively, had filled the 
office of mayor of the city since 1803, was again 
elected to that office, and continued to fill it, greatly 
to the advantage of the city, for six years more. 

§ 193. Destructive fire in Chatham-street. 

On the 19th of May, 1811, a destructive fire occur- 
red near the junction of Chatham and Duane-streets. 
It broke out on Sunday morning, and raged with 
great violence for several hours. A brisk wind was 
blowing from the north-east at the time, which so 
drove the fire before it, that for a while it wholly 
baffled the efforts of the firemen and citizens. It 
swept along both sides of Chatham-street, to the open 
grounds near the City Hall, leveling nearly a hun- 
dred buildings in its course. The steeple of the Brick 



192 CITY OP NEW-YORK 

diurch, and tlie cupola of tlie jail, botli caught fire, 
but were extinguished, one bj an intrepid sailor, who 
ascended the burning spire and removed the ignited 
portions ; the other by an imprisoned debtor, then on 
the jail limits. Both were liberally rewarded. 

§ 194. Washington market established. 

The next year measures were adopted to secure a 
more eligible site for a market on the Hudson Eiver. 
A block, bounded by Fulton and Vesey-streets, on the 
north and south, and lying between Washington-street 
.and the river, was purchased of Colonel Eichard 
Yarick, at a cost of g|42,000, upon which was soon 
after erected the Bear (Washington) market. 

§ 195. Plan of the city finally established. 

Some years before the time now immediately under 
notice, the legislature of the State had appointed a 
board of commissioners, among whom were Gouverneur 
Morris and De Witt Clinton, to survey and lay out 
in streets and avenues the whole area of Manhattan 
Island. This great work was now steadily advancing, 
and, by its accomplishment, the upper portion of the 
city has become as remarkable for the excellence of 
its plan, as some of the older portion is for the oppo- 
site properties. This work was not fully completed 
till several years later, when (in 1821) Mr. John 
Randall, after ten years' incessant labor, completed 
the surveys and finished his maps of the whole island 
above North (Houston) street and Greenwich-lane. 
This survey cost more than J(30,000, and its worth to 
the city has proved beyond computation. A " grand 
parade ground '' had been laid out by the commission- 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 193 

ers, and a square, to be called Union-place, at the 
junction of Broadway and the Bowery; but after a 
protracted contest, it was finally decided to reduce 
the size of the former, and to abolish the latter — 
though it lias since been restored, and is now among 
the chief ornaments of the city. 

§ 196. War with Great Britain. 

The occurrence of war between the United States 
and Great Britain in 1812, was highly disastrous to 
the interests of the city of New -York, jits commerce, 
which, during the two preceding years, had regained 
a good measure of its former buoyancy, was at once 
greatly depressed, and at length almost entirely an- 
nihilated. The duties collected at that port during 
the two years next succeeding the declaration of war 
amounted to but little over ;J20,000, and the gross 
value of exports for the year 1814 was only about 
^200,000. Such a depression of the foreign com- 
merce of the city could not fail to affect every depart- 
ment of business./ Goods of foreign production be- 
came exceedingly scarce, and prices rose to enormous 
heights. Those who had on hand large stocks be- 
came suddenly rich ; and others, by the sudden de- 
pression of prices that occurred subsequently, were 
totally ruined. Much embarrassment and even suf- 
fering were experienced by the poorer classes, on ac- 
count of the failure of all kinds of business, and the 
exorbitant prices demanded for all the necessaries of 
living. 

§ 197. Privateering. 

An immediate effect of the declaration of war was 
the letting loose of a great number of privateers, 

9 



194 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

many of which were fitted out from New -York. By 
this legalized piracy a great amount of property he- 
longing to British subjects was plundered at sea, and 
brought into New -York,- where for a while the en- 
riclied freebooters glittered in their ill-gotten splendor, 
and exerted a most corrupting influence on society. 

^ 198, Naval heroes visit Neiv -York. 

In the course of the war several naval prizes were 
also brought into New-Y'ork, and the freedom of the 
city, and other marks of public favor were awarded to 
a great number of successful naval commanders. Por- 
traits of several of these were taken at the expense of 
the corporation, which still adorn the walls of the Gov- 
ernor's Koom in the City Hall, and their names are 
now perpetuated among us by streets that were called 
after them. 

§ 199. Exposed condition of the city. 

The defenseless condition of the city was at this 
time such as to give great uneasiness to the more in- 
telligent and discreet of the citizens ; for while the 
multitude were occupied with reports of conflicts and 
victories in distant parts, the exposed condition of the 
city to an attack from sea was scarcely thought of by 
them. At length, however, public attention began to 
be directed to this subject. The British navy was 
then riding the ocean in triumph : for if it were proved 
that our frigates could match theirs at the rates of 
one to their two, they could, with their combined fleets, 
give us much more than ten to our one. It was only 
when single straggling vessels were fallen in with that 
there was any chance for success to the American navy. 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 195 

In the summer of 1814 the people of New -York were 
aroused from their fancied security hy information 
that that city had been selected as the point of descent 
for a powerful naval and military force, destined to 
act upon the Atlantic seaboard. Some feeble efforts 
toward fortifying the city and harbor had been made 
already ; a flotilla of gun-boats had been provided and 
equipped, and some very inadequate fortifications con- 
structed at the expense of the city. 

§ 200. Fortifications and military defenses. 

The general government now made a requisition on 
the states of New -York and New-Jersey for twenty 
thousand militia, to be concentrated in and around 
the city ; and the corporation advanced, under pledges 
of reimbursement, the funds necessary to meet the 
expense. Fortified camps were ordered to be formed 
on the high ground at Harlem and at Brooklyn. A 
committee of defense was appointed, who called upon 
the citizens, without distinction of classes, for contri- 
butions in labor, toward making the required fortifica- 
tions. The call thus made was responded to with 
great alacrity, and companies of from five hundred 
to a thousand were daily occupied in the work. It 
was computed that not less than a hundred thousand 
days' work were thus contributed, in which many per- 
sons wholly unused to such occupations wrought dili- 
gently for the public defense. A lively feeling of 
patriotism and of self-reliance was thus awakened 
among the people, which was itself 'the surest pledge 
of the public safety. In Brooklyn a line of fortifica- 
tions extended from the Wallabout to Gowanus, con- 
sisting of forts Green, Firemen's, Masonic, and Jjaw- 



196 ' CITY OF NEW-YORK 

rence, witli Fort Swift in the rear, commanding Gov- 
ernor's Island. In New -York, a chain of fortifications 
extended from Hurlgate to the Hudson Eiver. Both 
of these lines were strongly manned, and furnished 
with a good supply of artillery, ammunition, and mil- 
itary stores. The forts along the Hudson, and on the 
islands of the harbor, were bristling with cannon and 
crowded with soldiers. Commodore Decatur, with a 
body of seamen, was stationed in front of the city, to 
defend it by water, should such a service be required. 
f) The whole city seemed to be pervaded by the military 
spirit ; and while an attack was daily expected, there 
appeared to be a readiness, and even a desire for the 
conflict. But, happily, the day of trial never came. 

^ 201. '' Mustering out. ^^ 

A large portion of the militia having been drawn 
for only three months, the force in the city was greatly 
reduced before the setting in of the winter. On the 
last day of November a great military pageant was 
exhibited on the occasion of the discharge of the three- 
montlis' recruits. A line was formed in Broadway, rest- 
ing on Franklin-street, and extending beyond the 
junction of Broadway and the Bowery. The column 
then moved through the principal streets of the city, 
headed by the governor of the State, Daniel D. Tomp- 
kins, acting in his military character as commander- 
in-chief of the militia of the State, attended by his 
staff; and, after passing in review, the troops were 
mustered out of service and discharged. The money 
with which the discharged troops were paid off was 
also advanced by the corporation to the amount of 
half^a million dollars, all of which was subsequently 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 197 

refunded by the general government. News of the 
signing of a treaty of peace was received a few months 
later, and was the occasion of a very general joy among 
the people. A grand illumination took place on the 
evening of the 19th of February, and the city was 
again quiet. 

§ 202. Further commercial embarrassments. 

Though New- York had been saved from the horrors 
of actilal war in its midst, it had not failed to suffer 
greatly as a commercial city in consequence of the 
public disturbances. • An enumeration of the inhabit- 
ants, made at the end of 1813, showed a decrease of 
more than two thousand since ISIOJ Very few build- 
ings were erected during the five years from 1810 to 
1815, while both public and private indebtedness in- 
creased to an alarming extent, threatening a universal 
bankruptcy. The banks at length refused to redeem 
their issues ; the public stocks fell much below their 
par value, and a general depression was felt in all de- 
partments of trade. To supply the lack of specie, the 
corporation issued an immense amount of small bills, 
which for a long time was the chief circulating me- 
dium in the city. The high prices at which foreign 
goods were held immediately before the close of the 
war, induced large importations as soon as peace was 
restored. The revenue from duties collected at New- 
York rose from the depression of 1814, when it scarcely 
exceeded half a million of dollars, to over fourteen mill- 
ions the succeeding year. The goods thus imported 
at a cost of not less than two hundred millions, were 
procured almost exclusively on credit ; while the ex- 
ports for several succeeding years failed to reach 



198 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

even the moderate standard attained to before the 
war, and therefore they came vastly short of balanc- 
ing the costs of the imports. The country was already 
thoroughly drained of money, and of course the conse- 
quence of this excessive importation was commercial 
embarrassment and bankruptcy. A rapid falling off 
in the amount of imj)ortations took place during the 
ensuing few years, and in 1820 the amount was con- 
siderably less than it had been some twelve or four- 
teen years before. 

^ 203. Additional public buildings. 

Among the public buildings erected about this time, 
the most considerable was the alms-house at Bellevue. 
The purchase of the site has been noticed in another 
place. The building was begun in 1811, and com- 
pleted in 1816, at a cost to the city (including that of 
the penitentiary) of more than four hundred thousand 
dollars — a noble and well-applied public charity. The 
poor of the city were immediately removed thither, 
and the old alms-house in the Park appropriated to 
other public uses. The new Eoman-Catholic cathe- 
dral in Mott-street, now opening into Mulberry-street, 
was completed in 1815, and opened with great cere- 
mony. Its effect has been to render that portion of 
the city, which till then promised to become one of the 
most desirable wards, one of the poorest and most de- 
based. It is among the largest ecclesiastical edifices 
in the city, in the Gothic style of architecture ; and, 
though far from being elegant, it is an imposing and 
massive public structure. The Presbyterian church 
in Murray-street was built of stone in 1812, and was, 
at the time of its erection, among the best constructed 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 199 

churches in the city. Here the elder Dr. Mason offi- 
ciated for several years, till compelled to retire hy 
want of health. Tammany Hall was erected in 1811, 
the Bear-market in 1815, and a few years later, a 
fire having removed the old w^ooden buildings from 
the site now occupied by the Fulton-market, that 
building was erected to supersede the old Fly (more 
properly Vly, or Valley) market. 

^ 204. Further public improvements — population. 

The extension of the city and the opening of new 
streets, though greatly checked, was not wholly sus- 
pended by the prostration of business consequent upon 
the unsettled condition of public affairs. Immediately 
after the plan of the upper part of the city was defi- 
nitely arranged, the Third Avenue was ordered to be 
opened and regulated from Stuyvesant-street to Har- 
lem Eiver ; and a few years later a part of the First 
Avenue was also brought into use. Several of the old 
streets in the lower part of the city were widened, 
straightened, and extended. Soon after the return 
of peace, Broadway above Canal-street, and Spring and 
Broome-streets began to be occupied with buildings, 
and that portion of the city advanced rapidly in im- 
provements and population. But the greatest public 
work of this kind undertaken during this period was 
the opening of Canal-street. An immense canal was 
opened from the Collect to the Hudson River, by which 
a vast extent of low grounds was drained, and the 
pond itself almost annihilated. Over this canal was 
thrown an arch of substantial mason-work, upon which 
was built one of the most spacious and elegant tho- 
roughfares in the city — the whole of which cost about 



200 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

a huudred and fifty tliousand dollars. A few years 
later the Battery was enlarged and embellished, as 
it appears at present, and at an expense of more than 
$100,000. Castle Clinton was given up by the gen- 
eral government, and, taking the name of Castle Gar- 
den, was devoted to purposes of utility and pleasure. 
The census of 1820 showed that a most gratifying- 
increase of population had occurred during the few 
past years ; it n6w amounted to 123,706, of whom 
only 5,084 were aliens, and 528 slaves. 

§ 205. Yellow-fever in 1822. 

In July, 1822, the yellow-fever, from which the 
city had suffered so severely more than twenty years 
before, again appeared in New -York. For fifteen 
years before 1819 it was not known in this city, though 
during that time it prevailed fatally in some of the 
more southern cities of the republic. In the summer 
of that year a few fatal cases occurred in the neigh- 
borhood of Old-slip, arid produced some consternation 
in that vicinity, but it did not extend further. But 
in the year first-named it appeared suddenly in Kec- 
tor-street, and soon extended through the vicinity and 
up to Broadway. The epidemical character of the 
disease was marked and exceedingly malignant, and 
the contagion unusually active and violent. By the 
middle of August the epidemical atmosphere over- 
spread all that part of the city that lies below the 
Park, and the entire population of the infected dis- 
trict fled before it. The Custom-house, banks, and 
insurance offices, as well as the warehouses of the 
merchants, were closed and abandoned, or removed to 
temporary quarters at Greenwich village. The ferry- 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 20 i 

boats landed their passengers far up-town. Tlie mar- 
kets were removed to Chatham-square and Hudson- 
street, near St. John's Park. The streets leading to 
the infected district were fenced across, and that whole 
region of the city became a solitude, traversed only 
by the city watch and hordes of burglars. The panic 
amona* the inhabitants was intense and almost uni- 
versal. Multitudes fled from the city, and a great 
many temporary dwellings were hastily constructed 
in the upper wards, especially at Greenwich village. 
The epidemic lingered about the lower part of the 
city till extinguished by the frosts of autumn, when 
affairs resumed their usual course. But notwith- 
standing the malignity of the epidemic, the mortality 
caused by it was not very great, since nearly all the 
inhabitants removed from the infected district. The 
whole number of deaths by yellow-fever was under 
four hundred, and the aggregate mortality in the city 
for that year was more than three hundred less than 
during the preceding year. Since then the yellow- 
fever has not made its appearance in the city of New- 
York. 

§ 206. Mayoralty of Stephen Allen. 

For three years from 1821, the ofiice of mayor was 
held by Stephen Allen, Esq., a gentleman of great 
worth and energy of character, who from poverty and 
obscurity had risen to wealth by successful industry, 
and to public confidence by unwavering integrity. At 
the beginning of his term of service the salary of the 
mayor, which hitherto had been unsettled and varia- 
ble, and paid in part by fees, was fixed at three thou- 
sand dollars a year. The duties and functions of the 



202 CITY Oi' NEW-YOKK 

office were also better defined, and, ceasing to act as 
a judicial officer, the mayor became properly the chief 
executive magistrate of the municipality. The new 
mayor also brought with him into his public trust the 
same habits of order and energy by which he had been 
so eminently successful in his private affairs. The 
finances of the city were found by him in a very un- 
satisfactory condition, and at his suggestion measures 
of retrenchment and economy were adopted, and also 
plans for the more perfect development of the city's 
resources. These measures have effected much for 
the prosperity of the city, and but few of her chief 
magistrates have conferred greater or more substan- 
tial favor than did Mr. Allen, who is justly ranked as 
a worthy compeer and successor of those great public 
benefactors who had held the same office before him — 
of James Duane and Richard Varick, of De Witt 
Clinton and Cadwallader D. Golden. 

§ 207. Increase of the city. 

At this time the city of New -York was increasing 
with unprecedented rapidity. From actual enumera- 
tion, it appeared that in the year 1 824 more than six- 
teen hundred new houses were erected, nearly all of 
them brick or stone. The price of real estate was 
also greatly, increased. The erection of churches and 
other public edifices had become so frequent an occur- 
rence as to forbid notice of each particular case. On 
the west side of the island the city proper was verging 
nearly to Greenwich village, which was also expand- 
ing into a large and well-built suburban ward. East- 
ward from the Bowery a settlement was springing up 
quite beyond the compact part of the city. In the 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 203 

middle portion, on both sides of Broadway, were many 
half-rural residences of retired merchants and men of 
wealth. The old Potters-field was becoming an ob- 
stacle to the city's progress in that vicinity, and it was 
accordingly determined to level and grade it, to be 
kept as a public promenade — the present Washington- 
square. 

^ 208. The Erie Canal celebration — growth. 

Down to this time the progress of New -York had 
resulted almost entirely from its foreign commerce 
and river-navigation ; but now public attention began 
to be directed to the internal resources of the country. 
New impulse was given to inland- trade by the open- 
ing of several small canals, and the successful adop- 
tioji of canal-navigation. But in 1825 all other works 
of that kind were wholly eclipsed by the completion 
of the gigantic Erie Canal. This great event, des- 
tined to exert so powerful an influence on the future 
growth of the city, was celebrated in New -York, in the 
month of November, by an aquatic procession, and the 
significant ceremony of pouring water brought from 
Lake Erie into the sea-water of New-York Bay. The 
anticipation then entertained of advantage from this 
great enterprise has been much more than realized. 
For several succeeding years the progress of the city 
was steadily and uninterruptedly onward. In 1830 
the population exceeded two hundred thousand, while 
the wealth and resources of the city were increasing 
in a still greater ratio. The style of building was 
greatly improved, and all the outer aspects of the city 
gave evidence of its increased pecuniary resources. 



204 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

§ 209. The cholera of 1833 and 1834. 

But in 1832, after ten years of uninterrupted pub- 
lic health, as well as of unparalleled commercial pros- 
perity, the city was visited by a fearful and most de- 
structive epidemic, that caused a great fatality, and 
for a while seriously interrupted the growth of the 
city. Some fifteen years before, the Asiatic cholera, 
after having existed for ages as a local disease in In- 
dia, became epidemical and migratory. Since that 
time it had traversed Western Asia, and Middle and 
Northern Europe, strewing its pathway with tens of 
thousands of victims ; and in June of this year it 
reached this continent, first at Quebec, and soon after 
in New -York. Its ravages continued for about three 
months, during which time thousands sufiered from 
its attacks, in more or less malignant forms. Of the 
well-defined cases of the epidemic about one-half proved 
fatal, and the aggregate mortality by cholera alone 
amounted to over thirty-five hundred. Unlike the 
yellow-fever, this disease was fixed to no definite lo- 
calities, nor were its attacks confined to particular 
classes of persons ; though the usual incentives to dis- 
ease — intemperance, filthiness, and want of wholesome 
and nutritious food — were found to invite it, and in- 
crease its malignity. Nor could it be avoided by flight. 
Such was the mysterious character of the disease that 
it often prevailed most fatally in localities accounted 
peculiarly healthy, and it was evidently sometimes 
invited by the very means adopted to escape or pre- 
vent it. A great part of the inhabitants forsook the 
city, some of whom fell victims to the disease in their 
rural retreats, — for the epidemic was frequently more 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 205 

fatal in country places than in the large cities. Busi- 
ness suffered greatly, and the progress of the city was 
for a while sensibly checked. The disease returned 
again daring the latter part of the summer of 1834; 
but it created comparatively little excitement, and the 
whole mortality amounted to less than one thousand. 
After this it wholly disappeared, and was not again 
felt for fifteen years. 

^ 210. Great fire of December, 1835. 

The effects produced by these visitations of disease 
began to be forgotten, when the commercial interests 
of the city received a severe shock from another and 
very different cause. On the night of the 16th of 
December, 1835, a fire broke out near the foot of 
Maiden-lane, which, owing to the intense coldness of 
the weather, and the want of a supply of water, com- 
pletely baffled the efforts of the firemen, and burned on 
without control, till it was arrested by a breach made 
before it, by blowing up the houses with gunpowder. 
More than six hundred buildings, including the Cus- 
tom-house and Merchants' Exchange, were destroyed, 
besides an immense amount of valuable merchandise, 
the whole value of which has been estimated at nearly 
twenty millions of dollars. 

§ 211. Financial crisis of 1836-7 . 

This disaster was followed almost immediately by 
one of the most extensive commercial revulsions 
known in the history of this country, by which, for a 
time, both public and private credit was prostrated, 
and many of the wealthiest merchants in the city in- 
volved in hopeless bankruptcy. But the storm again 



206 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

passed off, and a few years restored the former activ- 
ity and energy of the great mercantile metropolis, 
while the city continued to increase and expand in 
every direction. The general census for 1840 showed 
an aggregate population of 312,852 — an increase of 
fifty per cent, over that of ten years previous. 

§ 212. Completion of the Croton aqueduct — cholera in 1849. 

In 1842 the Croton aqueduct, the greatest work of 
the kind accomplished in modern times, was com- 
pleted — of which a fuller account will be given in 
another place. In 1845 another great fire occurred, 
accompanied by a tremendous and fatal explosion, on 
Broad-street and Broadway, and the streets in that 
vicinity. The loss of property by that fire was esti- 
mated at five millions ; but the time being one of 
general commercial activity, it occasioned but little 
interruption to the growth and prosperity of the city. 
In 1849 the cholera again visited the city, and pre- 
vailed during the summer. It caused comparatively 
little excitement, though it proved scarcely less ma- 
lignant than at its first visitation. The mortality, as 
compared with the cases of attack, was about the same 
as in 1832, and the whole number of deaths exceeded 
five thousand, while the mortality from ordinary dis- 
eases was also greatly augmented. 

§ 213. Population and extent of the city in 1850. 

The first half of the nineteenth century closed upon 
the city of New -York, leaving it in the full tide of 
commercial and social prosperity. Its population, by 
an unparalleled increase, had attained to more than 
half a million, and its vast suburbs contained nearlv 



1 



IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 207- 

half as many more. Of the new part of the inhabit- 
ants a large portion were of foreign birth, chiefly na- 
tives of Ireland and Germany. The influence of these 
strangers has doubtless been unfavorable to the morals 
and manners of society ; though there is reason to be- 
lieve that the assimilating tendencies of our institu- 
tions will rapidly remedy these imported evils. For 
these social evils some compensation is oftered in the 
contribution to the material wealth of the city in the 
form of labor — as these foreigners now perform most 
of the heavy service required by the public and private 
improvements of the city. 



208 CITY OF NEW-YOEK 



CHAPTER X. 
NEW-YaRK AS IT IS. 

§ 214. The transformation. 

Great changes have occurred in the locality now oc- 
cupied by the city of New -York since the ship of the 
discoverer first entered its quiet waters, or even since 
the burgomasters and schepens of New-Amsterdam 
resigned the infant metropolis to its English captors. 
A period of less than two centuries has suflficed to con- 
vert a cluster of trading-houses and rude huts into a 
well-grown city, ranking among the few largest in 
the world — there being but two greater in Europe, 
and none to rival it in America. Where the Indian 
paddled his light canoe, and feebly contended with 
the elements, now the mighty packet-ship or ocean- 
steamer floats in safety, and laughs at the impotent 
fury of the storm. The tangled thickets that fringed 
these shores have given place to the denser floating 
forests of spars and cordage ; the silence of desolation 
that was broken only by the savage war-whoop, is re- 
placed by the din of commerce and the busy hum of 
the peaceful multitude ; the lonely foot-path is gone, 
but its place is occupied by broad streets and long 
avenues, thronged with the moving population, and 
gay with social life. The cruel rites of superstition 
are here no more celebrated, but in their place rise 
the temples of the living God, in which are taught 
the pure words of truth, and the mysteries of an en- 
nobling faith are solemnized. 



I 



AT THE PRESENT TIME. 209 

§ 215. Extent of the city. 

Of the whole area of Manhattan Island about one- 
fifth part, at the southern extremity, is occupied by 
the compactly-built portion of the city. Another fifth 
part is covered by the partially-regulated outskirts.- 
Of the remaining portion, some parts are still covered 
with the primeval forests, or are under tillage ; others 
are sites of suburban villages, or of gentlemen's coun- 
try-seats, and of a variety of benevolent institutions. 
As far up as Fourteenth-street, or nearly three miles 
from the Battery, th-e whole area is densely occu- 
pied by buildings. From that line to Forty-second 
street — till recently the southern boundary of the 
rural ward of the city — the ground is only partially 
built upon, the population being less and less dense 
according to the distance up-town. In nearly all this 
portion, however, the streets are opened, and most of 
them regulated and paved. Above the last-named 
line the characteristics of the city gradually diminish ; 
only a part of the streets are opened, and many of 
these are but partially regulated. 

§ 216. Streets and avenues. 

The streets of New -York are generally very well 
adapted to the purposes of public thoroughfares. Ex- 
cept in the extreme southern section of the city, where 
are still found a few narrow and crooked passages, 
they are generally sufficiently roomy and regular. 
Without the rigid exactness of plan that distinguishes 
some other cities, whose future greatness was provided 
for from their beginning, New -York unites, in very 
pleasing proportions, variety with regularity. The 



210 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

streets vary in width from iSfty to one hundred feet, 
and in length from a single block to nearly the whole 
extent^of the city. All of these thoroughfares con- 
sist of a paved carriage-way, skirted on both sides by 
flagged walks for foot-passengers. The carriage- 
ways are almost universally paved with water-worn 
stones of from five to twent^'^-five pounds' weight, 
which abound in the diluvial deposits of the island. 
These make a firm and durable foundation, but their 
inequalities make the streets paved with them terribly 
rough, and occasion a fearful amount of noise and 
clamor. A variety of expedients has been talked 
of for remedying these evils, but none has yet proved 
practically available. A few years since a trial was 
made of wooden blocks, instead of paving-stones, but 
the experiment was not satisfactory. The Kuss-pave- 
ment, composed of blocks of granite about ten inches 
square, resting upon a bed of broken stones, made 
solid with cement, has been adopted in Broadway, and, 
to a small extent, in a few other places ; but though 
its excellence is all that could be asked, its expensive- 
ness forbids its general use. 

§ 217. Great thoroughfares. 

A hasty glance over a plan of the city will suffice 
to detect certain great features, from which the infe- 
rior parts may be the better considered. Of these 
Broadway is the most notable, since it serves as the 
vertebral column to the whole city. This great ave- 
nue, eighty feet wide, extends from the southern ex- 
tremity of the island north-easterly (N. 36° E.) to 
Union-square, on Fourteenth-street, in a direct line, 
except a slight curve near its northern termination ; 



AT THE PRESENT TIME. 211 

and is at once tlie great retail mart and the principal 
thoroughfare of the city. At the lower point of the 
Park, another principal avenue (Chatham-street) leads 
off to the right toward the north-eastern part of the 
city, and terminates nearly half a mile beyond in 
a broad triangular area, known as Chatham-square. 
Prom the northern angle of this square the Bowery — a 
portion of the old " Boston-road '^ — leads, by a nearly 
due north course, to the Third and Pourth avenues, 
discharging most of its vast flood of travel into the 
former, and ending in the latter at Sixth-street. 
Prom the south-eastern angle of Chatham-square, 
East-Broadway (formerly Harmon-street) runs a little 
to the north of east to the neighborhood of Corlear's 
Hook. Parallel with this street, on the northerly 
side, and starting from the same point with the Bow- 
ery, is Division-street, the line of demarkation between 
two of the great sections of the city, and also one of 
the great retail marts. West of Broadway are several 
leading streets, running parallel with the river, of 
which Hudson, Greenwich, and Washington-streets are 
the most considerable. 

§ 218. Historical divisions — down-town. 

In considering the plan of the present city of New- 
York, it will be seen that the city consists of a num- 
ber of natural divisions, each having its own historical 
original. Of these the oldest occupies the site of the 
Dutch town of New-Amsterdam, lying wholly below 
Wall-street, — a portion still distinguished by its short, 
narrow, and irregular streets, notwithstanding all that 
has been done to remedy these original blemishes. 
But even here there is a plan easily discernible. Broad- 



212 CITY OP NEW -YORK 

way, Broad-street, and William-street, (the Vly,) are the 
leading avenues ; while Pearl-street takes its irregular 
direction to accommodate itself to the natural ground- 
plot of the city. The second portion is that which was 
added during the continuance of the British sway over 
the province, extending from Wall-street to the Park 
and Beekman's Swamp. The plan of this portion is the 
same as the former, being pierced by the same leading 
streets, and traversed by cross streets generally paral- 
lel with Wall-street. This portion of the city was ex- 
tended soon after the Ke volution quite up to the Fresh 
Water, and the belt of low ground that extended on both 
sides of that body of water to either river. As the shores 
of the two rivers diverge by a pretty broad angle, the 
area of the city necessarily became triangular, render- 
ing a regular arrangement of the streets somewhat 
difficult. Along both rivers the streets were laid 
down as nearly as possible parallel with the shores, 
across which were drawn other streets, cutting them 
at right angles. On the south-eastern side this plan 
was quite conveniently adjusted up as far as Chatham- 
street, as that avenue is nearly parallel with the shore 
off against it. On the west side, Broadway and the 
river diverge very considerably, and while the streets 
next to the river run parallel with it, those toward 
Broadway take its direction, making additional streets 
necessary as the city advanced outward. The trans- 
verse direction of Canal-street also adds to the irreg- 
ularity of this portion of the town. Between Broad- 
way and Chatham-street the Collect for a long time 
withstood the progress of the city, and at last it gave 
way by such slow degrees that this part of the town 
is only partially conformed to the general plan. 



AT THE PRESENT TIME. 213 

^ 219. The middle and eastern sections. 

After tlie passage of the Collect the city soon spread 
itself over another and greater portion of Manhattan 
Island, extending from the Hudson Eiver to the Bow- 
ery, and upward to the neighborhood of Hudson, Wash- 
ington, and Union-squares. Beyond this line, toward 
the Hudson, lies what was originally Greenwich vil- 
lage, now making an integral portion of the city, but 
still retaining its own anomalous ground-plan — an ac- 
count of which is given in another place. About the 
same period, the region to the east of the Bowery, up 
as far as North, or Houston-street, was incorporated 
into the city proper. To the west of Broadway the 
former plan of the city was continued without any 
material change. Between Broadway and the Bowery 
the leading streets were arranged in conformity with 
those great thoroughfares, while the cross-streets were 
drawn, as nearly as might be, perpendicular to them. 
Along the shore of the East Eiver, from Catharine- 
street to Corlaer's Hook, a series of streets were 
drawn parallel with the shore, as far back as Division- 
street, which were intersected with others nearly at 
right angles, reaching up as far as Harmon (East- 
Broadway) or Division-street. Between the Bowery 
and the East Eiver, to the north of Corlaer's Hook, 
and between Division-street on the south and North 
(Houston) street on the north, was laid out in regular 
squares a large quarter of the city's area. Between 
the Bowery and East Eiver are twenty-two streets, and 
between Division and Houston-streets are eight, cut- 
ting the former at right angles, and making between 
a hundred and fifty and two hundred blocks of build- 



214 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

ings, nearly all of wliicli are occupied by dwelling 

houses. 

§ 220. Up-iown. 

The last of the historical sections of the city is that 
large portion of the island which, forty years since, 
was ordered to he laid out into regular streets and 
avenues, and which includes all that had not then 
been so laid out. The plan of this part of the city is 
arranged with mathematical exactness, and without 
regard to the accidental or local peculiarities of the 
form or surface of the ground-plot. Lengthwise of 
the island, and in a line with the general direction of 
the two parallel shores, eleven great avenues were 
projected, from seven hundred to one thousand feet 
apart, extending from the regulated portion of the 
city to Harlem Eiver. These avenues are numbered 
from east to west, and outside of the eleventh is a 
partial twelfth one, to cover some projections along 
the Hudson. A considerable p^rt of the First-avenue 
is also submerged in the East Eiver. To the east of 
First-avenue, below Bellevue, is a large triangular 
piece of ground, through which four avenues, parallel 
with the others, were laid down, and designated by 
the letters of the alphabet, from A to D. The broad 
space between the Third and Fourth-avenues seemed 
to demand another leading street, which has accord- 
ingly been laid out and opened ; this is called Lexing- 
ton-avenue. For a like reason Madison-avenue has 
been opened between Fourth and Fifth-avenues. 

Across these avenues were next laid out a series of 
parallel streets, numbering nearly two hundred, and 
extending from North-street, which was from that 
time called Houston-street, to the upper part of the 



AT THE PRESENT TIME. 215 

island. These streets vary in «vidth from sixty to 
one hundred feet, and are separated by blocks two 
hundred feet deep ; so that twenty streets and blocks 
on the avenues are equal to a mile. The first three 
of these streets are wholly east of the Bowery. Fourth- 
street crosses both the Bowery and Broadway, and ex- 
tends westward till stopped by the irregularities of 
Greenwich village. From the Fourth to the Eighth 
the streets are more or less interrupted, and none of 
the first twelve extend quite to the Hudson. Four- 
teenth-street is the first that extends, without inter- 
ruption, from river to river. This is one of the noblest 
streets in the whole city, one hundred feet wide, per- 
fectly straight, and so regularly swelling upward to 
the middle of the island that both rivers are plainly 
seen from its principal elevation. 

§ 221. Civil divisions. 

In 1825 a new distribution of the city into wards 
was made, which remains, for the most part, to the 
present time. All below Fourteenth-street, which was 
esteemed the utmost limit of the city proper, was di- 
vided into eleven wards. Of these, the First Ward 
occupies the extreme southern point of the city. The 
Third, Fifth, Eighth, and Ninth, lie along the Hud- 
son — the last comprising Greenwich village. The 
Second, Fourth, and Seventh, lie between the East 
Eiver and Chatham and Division-streets. The Tenth 
and Eleventh lie to the east of the Bowery, and the 
Sixth between the Bowery and Broadway. The 
Twelfth Ward included all above Fourteenth-street, 
and, being a rural district, it was not subjected to such 
laws and regulations as pertained especially to muni- 



216 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

cipal affairs. But ike increase of tlie upper portions 
of the city presently demanded the formation of new 
wards by the division of some of the old ones. Tenth 
Ward was first divided, making the Thirteenth ; next 
the Sixth, the Fourteenth being formed out of its up- 
per half. Fifteenth Ward was taken from the eastern 
portion of the Ninth. It was at length found neces- 
sary to extend the city laws over a large portion of 
the Twelfth Ward, and accordingly a new ward — the 
Sixteenth — was erected, embracing all the region ex- 
tending from Fourteenth to Fortieth-street. The 
Seventeenth Ward was formed by the division of the 
Eleventh ; the Eighteenth was made by cutting off 
from the Sixteenth all east of Sixth-avenue. The 
Nineteenth Ward comprises so much of the old Twelfth 
as lies between Fortieth and Eighty-sixth-street ; and, 
last of all, the Twentieth was formed by the division 
of the Sixteenth Ward. Each of these wards are 
allowed an alderman and an assistant-alderman, to 
represent. their inhabitants in the Common Council of 
the city, and each constitutes a police district. 

^ 222. Public grounds — the Battery. 

Next to the streets and avenues of the city, its pub- 
lic grounds are objects of attention. With these New- 
York is less liberally supplied than could be desired, 
owing to a short-sighted economy at an earlier stage 
of its history. Yet our city is far from being alto- 
gether destitute of these embellishments, as the fol- 
lowing enumeration will sufficiently prove : — 

Beginning at the southern extremity, we have first 
the Battery, a segment of a circular belt, containing 
over ten acres, looking directly out upon the bay and 



AT THE PRESENT TIME. 217 

harbor, and beautifully laid out and shaded. For- 
merly this was one of the most fashionable prome- 
nades in the city ; and it was in reference to its con- 
dition in this season of its glory that the sentimental 
chronicler of New- Amsterdam thus apostrophizes it: — 
" The favorite walk of declining age ; the healthful 
resort of the feeble invalid ; the holiday refreshment 
of the dusty tradesman ; the scene of many a boyish 
gambol ; the rendezvous of many a tender assigna- 
tion ; the comfort of the citizen ; the ornament of 
New -York, and the pride of the lovely island of Man- 
ahatta." But the removal of the great body of the 
wealthy families to the upper part of the city, and the 
occupation of the lower wards by warehouses and im- 
migrant boarding-houses, have quite changed the char- 
acter of the frequenters of this truly lovely promenade. 

^ 223. The Boivling-green, etc. 

Just above the Battery, at the foot of Broadway, is 
the BoivUng-green, — an ellipse of a little more than a 
quarter of an acre, inclosed by an iron fence, and 
ornamented with a fountain. Its historical associa- 
tions have already been sufficiently noticed. 

Eknover-squarc, at the junction of Pearl and Will- 
iam-streets; FranJcUn-square, formed by a curve in 
Pearl-street and the beginning of Cherry-street ; and 
Cliatham-square, at the junction of Chatham-street, 
Bowery, and East-Broadway, are only broad triangles 
in the public streets, uninclosed, and paved in the 
usual manner. Several other similar squares, or, 
more properly, triangles, are found in different por- 
tions of the city. 

10 



218 CITY OF NEW-YORK 

§ 224. The Park — Hudson-square. 

The City Park, "bounded by Broadway, Chatham, 
Center, and Chamhers-streets, contains more than 
eleven acres of ground, and is well fenced and orna- 
mented. In its center is the City Hall ; on the east 
side, the Hall of Eecords ; toward the north-east cor- 
ner, the Eotunda, originally designed for a picture- 
gallery, but now occupied by public offices ; and on the 
north side, directly behind the City Hall, is a range 
of buildings, formerly the city alms-house, but now 
principally used by several of the numerous courts 
"that hold their sessions in this city. Toward the 
southern extremity of the Park is the fountain, which 
throws a large jet of water seventy feet high, and has 
a circular basin, a hundred feet in diameter, inclosed 
by a beautiful marble border, between which and the 
railing at the outside is a space of twelve feet wide, 
embellished with shrubs and flowers. 

Hudson-square, or St. John's Park, is a finely-orna- 
mented inclosure of about four acres, lying between 
Hudson and Varick-streets, immediately in front of 
St. John's church, and is held for the use of owners 
of property in the vicinity, and only those to whom 
the privilege is specially conceded, are permitted to 
enjoy its walks. 

^ 235. Washington and Union-squares, and Gramercy Park. 

Washington-square, bounded by Wooster, Fourth, 
and M'Dougal-streets and Waverley-place — a parallel- 
ogram of nearly ten acres — was formed from the old 
Potters-field, with the addition of a portion of ground 
procured for the purpose of completing the square. 



AT THE PRESENT TIME. 219 

It was at first intended to be used as a parade, but is 
now devoted exclusively to the purposes of a public 
promenade. It is among the most frequented and 
agreeable walks in the city. 

Union-square, on Fourth-avenue, between Fourteenth 
and Seventeenth-streets, is an elliptical figure, whose 
greater diameter is more than twice the less, and its 
whole area about one acre. It is very finely orna- 
mented, with an elegant fountain, and beautiful walks 
and shrubbery, and the whole inclosed by a substan- 
tial iron railing. Being located among the wealthiest 
portion of the population of the city — the celebrated 
*' upper ten thousand ^^ — it is a fashionable resort, 
though perfectly free to all classes of society. 

Gramercy Park contains a little more than one 
acre of ground, situated between Third and F^tirth- 
avenues, and Twentieth and Twenty-first-streets. It 
is a beautifully-ornamented promenade, and, though 
private property, it is readily accessible to all orderly 
and well-disposed persons. 

§ 226. Tompkins, Stuyvesant, and Madison-squares, etc. 

Tomphins-square is in the north-eastern section of 
the city, between Avenues A and B, and reaching 
from Seventh to Tenth-street. It contains over ten 
acres ; and as the city in that quarter advances it is 
becoming more and more a valuable public walk. 

Stuyvesant-sqiiare consists of two parallelograms, 
lying on either side of Second-avenue, and reaching 
from Fifteenth to Seventeenth-street. These grounds 
have been but recently inclosed and ornamented, and 
there is no cause to doubt that they will soon be among 
the finest in the city. 



220 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

On Fifth-avenue, extending to Madison-avenue, and 
between Twenty-tliird and Twenty-sixth-streets, an 
extensive area has been laid out, to be called Madi- 
son-square. And between Fifth and Sixth-avenues, 
on Fortieth-street, is Reservoir-square, occupied in part 
by the Distributing Eeservoir, and in part just now 
about to be devoted to the use of the great Crystal 
Palace, for the exhibition of the productions of the 
industry of all nations in the summer of 1853. 

§ 227. Squares projected. 

Beyond the city proper several large public squares 
have been projected, some of which have received the 
necessary legalization, and probably most of them 
will, in future years, be occupied for the purposes to 
wl^cn they have been thus devoted. 

BloomingdaU-square, on Eighth-avenue and Fifty- 
third-street, is designed to occupy eighteen acres ; 
HamiltoYirsquare, on Fourth-avenue and Sixty-sixth- 
street, twenty-four acres. This square occupies a 
most elevated position ; and if completed according to 
its design, it will be among the finest suburban walks 
in the vicinity of New -York. 

Manhattan-square, on Ninth-avenue and Seventy- 
seventh-street, covers four entire blocks ; Ohservatory- 
place, between Fourth and Fifth-avenues, contains 
twenty-five acres ; and Mount Morris, on both sides 
of Fifth-avenue, between One-hundred-and-twentieth 
and One-hundred-and-twenty-fourth-streets, about 
twenty acres. This last is situated in the vicinity of 
the ancient village of Harlem. 




.yh 




1 f 


::i;|. 



liliiii! 



! i'ii;i 



1-jg^^' 'P'(i*' I,' 



-*' 



WATER-WORKS — LIGHT. 221 

CHAPTEE XL 

WATER-WORKS — LIGHT. 
§ 228. Ante-revolutionary projects, 

A COPIOUS supply of pure fresh water is among the 
most important requisites of a great city. It has 
ever been found that the ordinary natural resources 
for the supply of this necessity are inadequate to such 
demands, and hence that it is necessary to convey 
water in large quantities from a distance. The atten- 
tion of the people of New-York was directed to this 
subject at quite an early period of the city's history, 
and schemes were projected to meet the public de- 
mands ; but nothing definite was undertaken till just 
before the period of the Eevolution. 

About the year 1774 a project was set on foot to 
construct a public reservoir on the east side of Broad- 
way, near its present junction with Franklin-street, 
which was to be supplied with water drawn from the 
Collect, and forced up by a steam-engine. The neces- 
sary legal authority was given to the corporation by 
the provincial legislature, with the privilege of issu- 
ing paper money for that purpose to the sum of two 
thousand five hundred pounds. A portion of this 
money was actually put in circulation, but the coming 
on of the revolutionary war put an end to the whole 
enterprise. 

^ 229. Post-revolutionary projects. 

After the return of peace this subject was revived, 
but the financial condition of the city was not such as 



222 CITY OE NEW-YORK. 

would warrant great public outlays. The projects dis- 
cussed generally looked no farther than to the springs, 
and wells, and water-courses, on Manhattan Island for 
a supply. The " Tea-water pump,'' which was a large 
natural fountain, situated near the present junction 
of Chatham and Pearl-streets, was in great repute, 
and for a long time a large portion of the citizens 
were supplied from it by means of casks carried upon 
carts. But in 1798 a report was presented to the 
Common Council, by a committee appointed to inves- 
tigate the subject, recommending the introduction of 
the waters of the Bronx Eiver into the city. The 
Bronx is a stream of moderate volume, rising in the 
central part of Westchester County, and, flowing south- 
ward, through White Plains and West Farms, it falls 
into the East Eiver, a few miles above Harlem Eiver. 
In consequence of the recommendation of the commit- 
tee, an examination of that river was made by suita- 
ble engineers, and the project declared to be feasible. 
The proposed work now seemed likely to be carried 
out, but presently the matter took another turn. 

§ 230. The Manhattan Company. 

At this time party strifes ran high throughout the 
nation, and entered into nearly all the affairs of the 
community. In New -York, all the banks were sub- 
ject to the control of the ruling (federal) party, and 
were used to promote its designs. The notorious 
Aaron Burr was then a member of the legislature of 
New -York, and, with his characteristic shrewdness, he 
laid hold of the popularity of the water-project to for- 
ward his partisan purposes. He procured an act of 
incorporation for a company, (the Manhattan,) in 



WATER-WORKS — LIGHT. 223 

whicli should be invested the right of supplying the 
citj with water, and having also the privilege of using 
its surplus capital in banking. This last privilege, 
which seemed to be only incidental and quite subordi- 
nate to the chief design of the company, was really its 
principal purpose. Something, however, was done in 
the way of supplying the city with water. A well 
was sunk back of the City Hall, near the south-west 
corner of the Collect, from which the water was forced 
up by a steam-engine into a reservoir in Chambers- 
street, elevated fifteen feet above Broadway, and thence 
distributed by wooden pipes over most of the city. But 
banking was the business that chiefly occupied the at- 
tention of the Manhattan Company, and consequently 
less attention was devoted to its first ostensible busi- 
ness than the wants of the city demanded. The sup- 
ply of water was also found to be inadequate to the 
requirements of the city, and its quality deteriorated 
as the surrounding space became occupied with streets 
and dwellings. 

§ 231. The up-town reservoir. 

Among the plans that occupied public attention at 
one time, was one to bring the waters of the Housa- 
tonic into this city by means of a canal, extending 
hence to Sharon in Connecticut. Artesian wells were 
also talked of, and the plan of introducing the Bronx 
Eiver revived and urged anew. 

In 1829, in consequence of the ravages of fire dur- 
ing the preceding year, a plan was adopted to estab- 
lish a great general reservoir far up-town, to be sup- 
plied from a well, and to distribute its contents through 
every portion of the city by means of iron pipes, to be 

10* 



224 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

laid through the principal streets. This plan was 
carried out, so far as the construction of the reservoir 
and a partial laying down of the pipes was concerned ; 
but the supply of water from the well proved totally 
insufficient. 

§ 232. The Croton project. 

While this plan was thus in a course of unsuccess- 
ful experiment, another was undertaken, which was 
destined not only to fill the empty reservoir and pipes, 
hut to make the city of New -York as famous for the 
superiority of its water-works as it had been for their 
inferiority. Public attention was, in 1830, directed 
to the Croton Eiver as a source of supply of the much- 
needed element. A definite survey of the route was 
made two years later, and though most of the engi- 
neers reported unfavorably, it was strongly commended 
by De Witt Clinton, jr., as the only source on which 
the city should rely. The next year, Major Douglass 
was appointed to examine the several plans of supply- 
ing the city, and especially the routes to the Bronx 
and Croton Eivers. The facts elicited by this survey 
seem to have caused the public mind to preponderate 
decidedly in favor of the last-named river. From that 
time the measure was prosecuted steadily to its con- 
summation, when, on the 4:th of July, 1842, the pres- 
ident of the Board of Commissioners, under whose 
auspices the work had been accomplished, opened the 
gates of the new reservoir, and the water of the Cro- 
ton, that had been diverted from its natural channel 
forty miles from the city, rushed into the pipes that 
thirteen years before had been laid down, but had 
found no water to fill them. 



WATER-WORKS — LIGHT. 225 

§ 233. Sources of the Croton River. 

The Croton River, which was thus suddenly intro- 
duced to city life, is a pure fresh-water stream, rising 
in a somewhat elevated region comprising the eastern 
portion of Putnam County. Near the dividing-line 
between Westchester and Putnam Counties, three large 
hrooks, known as the East, the Middle, and the West 
branches, unite to form the Croton Eiver. By tracing 
these streams upward, they are found to spread out 
into a vast number of smaller tributaries, collecting 
the waters of innumerable springs, and receiving the 
overflowings of a large number of sylvan lakes, that 
cover an extent of more than thirteen hundred acres. 
A few miles lower, the Croton is increased by the con- 
fluence of the Muscoot River from the north, and Cross 
River from the south. The former stream rises in 
Lake Mahopac, in the southern part of Putnam County, 
and also receives the overflowings of three other con- 
siderable ponds ; the aggregate area of all which 
amounts to about fifteen hundred acres. Cross River 
drains a considerable region of country in the neigh- 
borhood of Bedford, and also receives the waters of 
Long Pond, a sheet of pure water measuring about 
eight hundred acres. 

§ 234. Supply and character of its waters. 

The supply of the Croton River is thus seen to be 
from natural lakes or ponds, covering more than three 
thousand six hundred acres, all of which may be easily 
converted into reservoirs for additional supplies when- 
ever needed. The supplies of these ponds are drawn 
almost entirely from springs scattered over the ele- 



226 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

vated region in which they are situated, or from nat- 
ural fountains in their own beds. That region being 
an elevated granitic formation, and chiefly occupied 
as a grazing country- — being too rough to admit of 
extensive tillage — the purity of its streams seems to 
be forever secured. The water is perfectly clear, and 
almost totally free from saline or other foreign ad- 
mixtures. 

§ 235. The river and lake. 

The course of the Croton Eiver, which in the higher 
parts is south or south-westerly, after the confluence 
of the Muscoot, turns nearly westward, and falls into 
the Hudson a few miles above the village of Sing-Sing. 
Five miles below the junction of the Muscoot with the 
Croton is the upper end of Croton Lake — the first of 
the artificial reservoirs of these famous water-works. 
The lake is formed by a dam thrown across the river, 
by which the w cer is thrown back for four miles, and 
about four hundred acres of land inundated. Its 
shape is very irregular, owing to the inequalities of 
the ground along the river banks ; its depth varies 
from fifty feet downward ; its capacity, above the bot- 
tom of the aqueduct, is estimated at five hundred mill- 
ions of gallons, and its daily discharge is equal to 
thirty-five millions of gallons. About two miles above 
the dam, the lake is crossed by Pine's Bridge, a place 
and crossing somewhat celebrated in our revolutionary 
history. 

§ 236. The dam. 

The dam itself is a grand and imposing structure. 
It is laid upon the rocky bed of the river, from which 
it rises forty feet upward, and extends two hundred 



^a 



WATEK-WORKS — LIGHT. 229 

and eighty feet from bank to bank. The face ol -ae 
dam is built of hewn granite, over which the water 
tumbles with a fall of forty feet. About one-third of 
the way across from the eastern end of the dam is the 
gatehouse, built on a pier in the midst of the stream, 
where is also the sluiceway for relieving the dam, or 
reducing the level of the water in the lake. The gate- 
house is reached by a bridge from the eastern shore, 
constructed immediately over the curve of the surface 
of the water. 

§ 237. Course and length of the aqueduct. 

At the eastern bank, just above the dam, the aque- 
duct receives its waters from the lake, which is ele- 
vated one hundred and sixty feet above the Hudson 
Eiver, six miles below, at mean tide. From the dam 
the aqueduct follows the southern bank of the Croton 
nearly to its mouth, and then passes down the eastern 
shore of the Hudson, with a declivity of thirteen and 
a quarter inches to the mile, to the high grounds 
above Harlem Eiver, about midway between the Hud- 
son and East Eivers. Here it is carried over the Har- 
lem Eiver on a magnificent and lofty bridge, fourteen 
hundred and fifty feet long, and one hundred and 
fourteen above tide-water ; and thence it is led over 
valleys and through hills to the great Eeceiving Ees- 
ervoir, at Eighty-sixth-street, near Yorkville. This 
reservoir is a vast artificial lake, covering thirfcy-five 
acres, and containing a hundred and fifty million gal- 
lons of water. Here the great trunk of the aqueduct 
terminates, being from the dam to the upper reservoir 
forty and a half miles long. Below this point the 
masonry gives place to large iron pipes, by which the 



230 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

water is conveyed to the lower reservoir, and thence 
distributed to all parts of the city.* 

The face of the country through which the aque- 
duct passes presents very great obstacles to the con- 
struction of such a work. It was necessary to cut 
down hills and fill up valleys, to cross streams and to 
pierce through rocks. On the line of the aqueduct 
are no less than one hundred and fourteen culverts, 
with an aggregate length of seven thousand nine hun- 
dred and fifty-nine feet, and sixteen tunnels varying 
from one hundred and sixty to twelve hundred and 
sixty-three feet in length, amounting in all to six 
thousand eight hundred and forty-one feet. 

^ 238. Its structure and dimensions. 

The internal dimensions of the aqueduct are truly 
capacious. At its completion, the commissioners and 
engineers made a journey through its entire length 
on foot. After it had been partially filled with water, 
the same route was made by four persons in a boat 
prepared for the purpose. The greatest interior 
width of the trunk is seven feet five inches, and its 
greatest height eight feet five and a half inches, and 
it is estimated to be capable of discharging twenty- 
seven millions of gallons daily. The workmanship of 
the aqueduct is of the most substantial character pos- 
sible. The foundation was first accurately graded, and 
then covered with a thick layer of broken stones and 
water-cement, upon which was laid a floor of solid ma- 
sonry. The side-walls are of solid stone-work, lined 
with brick, while the roof is an arch of brick-work 
overlaid with a floor of cement. Every part of the 
structure is so covered with earth as to be quite out 



WATER-WORKS — LIGHT. 231 

of the reach of the influences of atmospherical changes. 
At intervals of half a mile are chimneys of cut stone, 
that serve as ventilators, and secure a proper atmos- 
pheric pressure upon the stream. 

The Distributing Eeservoir is located between For- 
tieth and Porty-second-streets, and between Fifth and 
Sixth-avenues, covering two large blocks, and is ca- 
pable of holding twenty millions of gallons. The 
walls of this basin are about forty feet above the 
level of that elevated part of the island. From this 
reservoir the water is distributed to all parts of the 
city by cast-iron pipes, laid through the streets from 
three to four feet under ground. The length of pipe 
already laid down (1850) amounts to nearly two hun- 
dred miles. 

^ 239. Magnitude of the enterprise. 

In magnitude of design and durability of construc- 
tion, the Croton Aqueduct is incomparably beyond any 
similar structure of modern times, and even rivals the 
most celebrated water- works of antiquity. As an in- 
stance of public spirit and enlarged liberality in a free 
people, it stands preeminent. It was constructed at 
an expense of nine millions of dollars, raised by a 
self-imposed tax, by a single city, during a period of 
great commercial embarrassment, and in the face of 
great natural diflSculties. The immediate advantages 
derived from the Croton water are quite sufficient to 
satisfy every one that the enterprise abundantly re- 
pays its cost. It has greatly enhanced the comfort 
and convenience of all classes of citizens, promoted 
sobriety and cleanliness, diminished the malignity 
of disease, afforded facilities for mechanical opera- 



232 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

tions, and given increased security against the rav- 
ages of fire. But the present generation can never 
realize the full value of this gigantic enterprise. 
"When the population of the city shall he numhered 
by millions, and a thousand new uses for this living 
current shall have been discovered, and the whole 
made subservient to the physical and jnoral welfare 
of the whole population of the chief city of the west- 
ern world, the renown of the projectors of this great 
work will rise commensurate with the greatness of the 
city to which they have contributed so valuable an 
endowment. 

§ 240. Illumination — -primitive methods. 

The lighting of the streets of the city by night is 
a subject of municipal economy second in importance 
only to a supply of pure water. In 1697, when the 
city watch consisted of " four sober men,'^ on account 
of " the great inconvenience that attends this city for 
the want of having light, in the dark time of the moon, 
in the winter time,^' it was ordered " that all and 
every of the housekeepers in this city shall put lights 
in their windows fronting the respective streets of said 
city." This plan was soon found too expensive, and 
it also was thought to afford an unnecessary amount 
of light, and accordingly the order was so modified as 
to require "that every seventh house do hang out a 
pole, with a lantern and candle ; and the said seven 
houses to pay equal portions of the expense." 
. More than sixty years later public lamps began to 
be set up in the principal streets. From that time 
downward an increasing amount of public attention 
was given to the subject. Lamps for burning oil 



WATER-WORKS— Flight. 283 

were set up in all the public thoroughfares, which 
were maintained and kept in order at the public ex- 
pense. But the insufficiency of this manner of illu- 
minating is known to every one, and when its aid 
was most needed it served little other purpose than to 
make the darkness visible. But the discovery and 
use of gas-light has wrought a great revolution in 
this matter. 

^241. Gas-light. 

In 1823 the New -York Gas-light Company ^ with a 
capital of a million dollars, was incorporated, to 
which company was given the exclusive right, for 
thirty years, to supply with gas-light all that part of 
the city lying to the south of Grand and Canal-streets. 
The works of this company were, till recently, situated 
on Center-street, near Canal and Hester-streets ; but 
they have lately been removed to new buildings erect- 
ed for that purpose on the East Eiver, near the foot 
of Twenty-third-street. Gas-pipes have been laid 
down in most of the streets of that portion of the city 
to which the operations of this company are exclu- 
sively directed, and most of the street-lamps, and 
many stores and private dwellings, are lighted with 
its gas. 

The Manhattan Gas-light Company, incorporated in 
1830, is the rival of the preceding, and enjoys, by con- 
tract, the privilege of lighting all that portion of the 
city not included in the contract with that company. 
Its capital was at first half a million of dollars, but it 
has since been increased to a million. The buildings 
of this company are situated at the foot of Eighteenth- 
street, on the North Kiver. 



234 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 242. Quality of the light. 

The light afforded by the gas of these companies is 
of a pure white color, and exceedingly brilliant. The 
contrast between the flood of light that pours from 
its lamps, and the dim flickering of the oil lamps, is 
most striking — to say nothing of the times when lan- 
terns, swung on poles, guided the pathway of the even- 
ing traveler of the metropolis. If the gas-lights have 
contributed something to the unthrifty practice of 
turning night into day, they have also done much to 
advance both the moral and social improvements of 
the city. The facilities for going abroad in the even- 
ing have been greatly increased, and in many streets 
it is as safe and as agreeable to walk out in the even- 
ing as by day-light. Crime, too, has been greatly 
diminished, and the evil propensities of the vicious 
kept in check, by the absence of that darkness in 
which the perpetrators of crime choose to conceal 
themselves and their wicked deeds. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 235 

CHAPTEE XII. 

PUBLIC BULLDLNGS— CHURCHES— CHARITIES. 

§ 243. The City Hall. 

Though New -York is not celebrated for a profusion 
of architectural embellishments, it nevertheless has a 
large number of both public and private edifices, not 
altogether unworthy the attention of the sight-seer, 
or the admirer of the tectonic art. Among these, the 
first to be named is the City Hall. It is located in 
the middle of the Park, having a spacious and well- 
ornamented area around it. Though far below the 
geographical center of the city, it is really the point 
from which, as a starting-point, the city must be con- 
sidered. The building consists of two stories, resting 
on a high and airy basement — the first of the Ionic 
order, and the second, Corinthian ; and the whole is 
surmounted by a cupola of the Composite order. Its 
length is two hundred and sixteen feet ; its breadth 
one hundred and five feet, and its height, without the 
cupola, sixty-five. The front and ends are of chiseled 
white marble, but the rear, (as if the city was never 
to be on that side of it,) was constructed of brown free- 
stone. In this building are the chambers of the Com- 
mon Council, the Governor's Eoom, (a large and well- 
furnished apartment, used for the reception of the city's 
guests,) and many of the offices of the city government. 
A good view of it is given in our Frontispiece. 

§ 244. Hall of. Records. 

Directly to the east of the City Hall is the Hall of 
Records — the same building that was originally the 



236 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

Debtors' Prison, and during the war of tlie Eevolution 
the dreadful " Provost ;" and at the time of the chol- 
era, in 1832, it was used as a hospital. The whole 
building has since been remodeled, and, by the help 
of stucco and colonnades, transformed into a beautiful 
Ionic temple, a hundred and four feet long and sixty- 
two wide, a copy of the temple of Diana at Ephesus. 
As its name indicates, it is the depository of the 
archives of the city ; it also affords accommodations 
for several of the departments of the city government. 

§ 245. " The Tombs:' 

The Halls of Justice (called, on account of the 
style of architecture, the Tomhs^ are built on the site 
of the " Collect," occupying the block bounded by 
Centre and Elm, Leonard and Eranklin-streets. This 
building is the center of the police department of the 
city. Here the criminal courts are held; and here 
prisoners detained for trial, or awaiting the execution 
of their sentences, are confined. The buildings are 
of light granite, constructed after the Egyptian order, 
two hundred and fifty feet long, and two hundred 
deep — part of the structure being two stories high, 
and part only one. 

^ 246. The Exchange. 

The Merchants' Exchange occupies an irregular 
block, bounded by Wall, William, Exchange, and 
Hanover-streets, and is the property of an association 
of merchants. The present edifice was begun in 1836 
and finished in 1842, to supply the place of its prede- 
cessor, which was destroyed in the great fire of De- 
cember, 1835. It is built of Quincy granite, and is 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 237 

entirely fire-proof. The principal front, on Wall- 
street, is one hundred and ninety-six feet long; and 
the whole building two stories high, above a lofty 
basement. The front is adorned with a colonnade of 
twelve Ionic pillars, within which is another row of 
six similar columns, supporting the ceiling of a re- 
cess forming the main entrance. The shafts of these 
columns, though thirty-six feet high, are single blocks 
of granite, weighing thirty-three tons each. The 
great central room, called the Eotunda, is one of the 
most imposing halls produced by modern architecture. 
It is a vast circular area, surmounted by a magnifi- 
cent dome, eighty feet in diameter, and eighty feet 
high, resting in part on eight splendid Corinthian 
columns of Italian marble. The other portions of the 
building are occupied by a large reading-room, and 
the offices of a great number of insurance companies, 
bankers, and brokers. The cost of this noble edifice, 
with the ground on which it stands, was nearly two 
millions of dollars. 

^ 247. The Custom-house. 

The Custom-house, fronting also on Wall-street, 
having Nassau-street on the west, and Pine-street on 
the north, — occupying the site of the old Federal Hall, 
— was built simultaneously with the Exchange, its pre- 
decessor having been destroyed by the same disastrous 
fire. This edifice is one hundred and ninety-two feet 
long, and ninety broad, with a colonnade at each end, 
of eight columns — the whole building being fashioned 
after the Athenian Parthenon. Like the Exchange, 
it has a large circular hall, occupying the principal part 
of the building, which is inclosed by a peristyle of 



238 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

sixteen Corinthian columns, supporting a magnificent 
dome. The other parts of the building are devoted 
to the various purposes of the officers of the customs. 
The cost of the building, together with its site and 
appendages, was a little less than twelve hundred 
thousand dollars. 

§ 248. Odd Fellows' Hall. 

On Grand-street, occupying the entire block be- 
tween Centre and Orange-streets, is the Odd Fellows' 
Hall — a brown freestone edifice of about eighty feet 
front, and over a hundred deep on Orange-street, and 
five stories high. It was built during the year 1849, at 
a cost of about ^125,000, and is owned by a joint-stock 
company, made up chiefly of members of the order of 
Odd Fellows, to the uses of which order it is principally 
devoted. Its architectural embellishments are chiefly 
on the interior. Each of its numerous apartments is 
fitted up in a distinct style of architecture ; so that 
there is a room in the Antique, the Egyptian, the Per- 
sian, the Doric, the Corinthian, the Gothic, and the 
Elizabethan orders — almost perfect specimens, both as 
to purity of style and elegance of workmanship. 

§ 249. The Astor Library. 

This edifice, with the valuable free library designed 
to occupy it, owes its existence to the munificence of 
the celebrated millionaire, John Jacob Astor, who, by 
his last will, left four hundred thousand dollars for 
its establishment. The building is of brown stone, 
in the Florence Palace style of architecture, sixty-five 
feet front, by a hundred and twenty deep, and sixty- 
seven and a half feet from the ground to the top line 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 239 

of the parajDet. It is so built as to be completely fire- 
proof. The library-hall is sixty by one hundred feet 
in the clear, and forty feet in height, lighted from 
the roof, with a gallery fifteen feet from the floor, and 
shelves against the walls quite up to the ceiling. To 
the right and left of the vestibule are the reading- 
rooms, and on each side of the stairway is a corridor 
leading to the lecture-room in the rear. 

§ 250. The Arsenal. 

A military store-house has been kept in New -York 
from a very early period of its history. As early as 
1675 a powder-house was established on "a small 
island in the Fresh Water," and in 1728 that island 
was exclusively devoted to the purposes of a military 
store. On the same spot, in 1808, then no longer an 
island, a large building was erected by the State for 
an arsenal, which continued to be used for that pur- 
pose till near the close of the year 1848. About the 
beginning of that year, it was determined that the 
arsenal should be removed to a new location on Fifth- 
avenue, between Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth-streets. 
Here, during that year, was erected a building two 
hundred feet long, and fifty feet deep, the first story 
of stone, and the rest of brick. Each of its corners 
is flanked by an octagonal tower sixty-nine feet in 
height ; and there are two intermediate towers, each, 
on the front and the rear walls, eighty-two feet in 
height. The whole cost of the building was about 
thirty thousand dollars. It is occupied, as its name 
denotes, as a depository for arms and military stores, 
and belongs to the State. 

11 



240 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 



§ 251. Trinity church. 



Among the cliurclies of New -York, though they 
are generally much more adapted to use than to 
show, are found some splendid specimens of ecclesias- 
tical architecture. Among these, Trinity church, on 
Broadway, opposite Wall-street, is deserving of the 
first notice. This edifice was erected ahout ten years 
since, at a cost of nearly half a million of dollars. 
The style of architecture is what is technically known 
as the perpendicular Gothic, and the material is brown 
freestone. The side-walls are forty feet in height, 
supported by eight substantial buttresses, between 
which are pointed windows. In the rear wall is a 
magnificent window sixty feet high and twenty-five 
wide. The front is principally occupied by the im- 
mense tower, thirty feet square, and supported by 
buttresses four feet wide, and projecting from each 
outer angle seven and a half feet, and rising to the 
height of one hundred and twenty-seven feet. Through 
the tower is the main entrance to the church, twenty 
feet wide and thirty high. From the top of the tower 
rises an octagonal spire of carved stone, one hundred 
and fifty-six feet high, making the aggregate height, 
from the level of the street, two hundred and eighty- 
three feet. The interior of the church is finished in 
the same style of costly magnificence and rigid atten- 
tion to architectural exactness. Its capacii;* as a 
place of worship, however, bears but a small propor- 
tion to the size and cost of the edifice ; for it has seats 
for less than a thousand persons. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 241 

§ 252. Other church edifices. 

A large number of cliurcli edifices, deserving a fuller 
description, must be passed over very briefly, or quite 
unnoticed. The South Eeformed Dutch church, the 
successor of that which long stood in Garden-street, 
and was occupied by the oldest ecclesiastical body in 
the city, is situated at the corner of Fifth-avenue and 
Twenty-first-street, a magnificent and highly orna- 
mental structure, of the pure Gothic order. The 
church of the Pilgrims, at the south-west corner of 
Union-square, is of white marble, in the Eomanesque 
style. It is one hundred and forty-two feet deep, and 
seventy-five wide, and has two towers in front. The 
Baptist Tabernacle church, on the Second-avenue, 
near Tenth-street, is a neat ornamented Gothic build- 
ing, with pointed towers at the angles, and having the 
whole front elaborately ornamented. It is ninety- 
two feet deep, and sixty-four wide, and, altogether, one 
of the most elegant and commodious churches in the 
city, capable of seating nearly a thousand persons. 
St. George's church, on Stuyvesant-square, successor 
to the venerable structure in Beekman-street, has a 
front of ninety-four feet, and an entire depth of one 
hundred and sixty-eight feet. The architecture is of 
the Byzantine #der, and the whole edifice is a model 
of massive strength. There are towers at the front 
angles, which are to be surmounted by spires, when 
its aspect will be truly imposing. Its interior is at 
once elegant and commodious. 

The whole number of church edifices in the city, in 
1850, was two hundred and fifty-four, varying, how- 
ever, very widely in their dimensions, styles of build- 



242 CITY OF NEW-YOEK. 

ing, and expensiveness. They belong to some fifteen 
or sixteen different denominations ; of which the 
Episcopalians have forty-nine ; the Methodists forty- 
six ; the Presbyterians forty-four ; the Baptists thirty- 
eight ; the Eoman .Catholics nineteen ; and the Ke- 
formed Dutch seventeen ; and various other denomin- 
ations from ten to two each. 

§ 253. Charities of New -York. 
Large cities commonly furnish wide fields for the 
practical exercise of benevolence, and in most Chris- 
tian and civilized countries they have exhibited the 
best examples of that genuine charity that labors cheer- 
fully to mitigate human misery. To this general 
statement New -York forms no exception, and it is re- 
markable only for the amplitude of the provisions 
there made for the relief of the multitudes whose 
necessities are perpetually demanding assistance. 
Though but a comparatively small portion of the 
native-born population ever require public interfer- 
ence in their favor, yet, while multitudes of destitute 
emigrants are constantly crowding our wharves, the 
hand of charity will not be stayed for lack of objects 
upon which to exercise its beneficence ; and the case 
of the widow and the orphan will, in all conditions of 
society, open a wide field for bene"\^ent enterprise. 
The most ample provision for these necessities are 
made, both by public munificence and private phi- 
lanthropy. 

§ 254. Alms-house department. 

Public provisions for the wants of the destitute have 
"been almost coeval with the city itself. Notices of 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 243 

this department have occurred in the historical por- 
tion of this volume. For a long time the alms-house 
occupied a position in the upper part of the Park. 
About fifty years since a location was purchased by 
the corporation on the East Kiver, nearly three miles 
from the City Hall, formerly the residence of the cele- 
brated Lindley Murray, and an infirmary established 
there, designed especially to be used in times of pesti- 
lence, and for dangerous contagious diseases. Addi- 
tional buildings were erected from time to time, and 
the name of Bellevue Hospital was given to the whole 
establishment. The principal edifice was of stone, 
three hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and 
fifty-five in width, and four stories high. To this 
place the city's poor were removed in the year 1823, 
and they continued there until removed, a few years 
since, to their present location. 

Blackwell's Island, now the chief seat of the oper- 
ations of the alms-house department of the city gov- 
ernment of New -York, lies in the East Eiver, about 
four miles from the City Hall, reaching from south- 
west to north-east more than half a mile. Toward 
the southern end stands the city penitentiary, a large 
four-story stone edifice, capable of containing a thou- 
sand convicts. Yet below this, at the extreme south- 
ern point, is the hospital for sick convicts. About 
mid-way up the island, are the new alms-house build- 
ings, consisting of two main buildings, with wings, one 
for males and the other for females, both built of 
stone. At the northern extremity of the island is the 
city's lunatic asylum, a large and imposing edifice. 
The stone of which all these buildings are made was 
quarried upon the island itself ; and this labor, as well 



244 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

as much of that of building, was performed by the 
convicts. 

Eandall's Island, lying nearly three miles farther 
up the East Eiver, is the situation of the nursery 
department of the alms-house. Large and commodi- 
ous buildings have been erected for this department, 
and a multitude of children are there provided with 
sustenance and instruction. 

The control of the alms-house department was, until 
within a few years past, in the city corporation. But 
the increasing magnitude of its affairs at length led 
to a separate organization, and its management was, 
about ten years since, committed to an officer chosen 
by the people, and styled the Alms-house Commission- 
er. This arrangement, however, was not satisfactory, 
and a few years later the whole department was re- 
organized, and placed under the independent control 
of ten citizens, called Governors of the Alms-house, 
chosen by the people, two each year ; and, that they 
may be kept above partisan influences, each elector 
votes for only one, thus equally dividing the whole 
between the two princip'al political parties. And fur- 
ther, to secure the services of the best men for this im- 
portant trust, no salary or remuneration is allowed 
for their services — the benevolent pur23oses of the phil- 
anthropic being esteemed a better reliance than any 
mercenary motives ; and thus far the experiment has 
worked very satisfactorily. 

§ 255, New -York Hospital. 

Passing from this notice of the great public charity 
of the city, we come next to consider the voluntary 
associations and institutions that are found in the city, 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 245 

each devoted to some special department of benevo- 
lence. Of tliese, the first in the order of time is the New- 
York Hospital. In the month of June, 1771, certain 
officers and citizens were constituted, by the Earl of 
Dunmore, then governor of New -York, a corporation 
under the name of the " Society of the Hospital of the 
City of New -York, in America." A building for the 
accommodation of patients was erected in 1773, jointly 
by legislative aid and private liberality ; but in less than 
two years after it was destroyed by fire. The work 
of rebuilding was immediately undertaken ; but the 
coming on of the war of the Eevolution soon put a 
period to this, as to every other similar work. Soon 
after the termination of the war, the society was re- 
vived, and, by the aid of a legislative grant, it was 
enabled, about the beginning of the year 1791, to open 
a hospital for the reception of patients. From that 
period onward the society has continued to enjoy the 
bounty of the State, and to accomplish the design for 
which it was originated. The grounds of this insti- 
tution comprise nearly the whole of the block bounded 
by Broadway, Anthony, Church, and Duane-streets. 
A portion of the front of the block on Broadway, at 
each angle, is occupied by private buildings. An 
avenue ninety feet wide, shaded with ancient elms, leads 
from Broadway to the principal building, and opens a 
most pleasing view to the passers-by. The site is 
finely elevated, "and one of the healthiest situations in 
the whole city. 

The services of the officers of the corporation, as 
well as those of the attending physicians and surgeons, 
who are selected from among the most eminent of 
their several professions, are rendered gratuitously. 



246 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

Applicants are admitted only on the recommendation 
of a member of the corporation, or of one of the phy- 
sicians or surgeons, except in cases of sudden acci- 
dents, when they are admitted temporarily by the 
superintendent, without such recommendation. 

§ 256. Asylum for the Insane. 

The Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane is a branch 
of the New -York Hospital. The principal edifice was 
begun in 1818, and finished two years afterward, 
and the institution was opened for the admission of 
patients in June, 1821. It is located on Blooming- 
dale Eoad, near Tenth-avenue, and One-hundred-and- 
seventeenth-street, and about seven miles from the 
City Hall. There is connected with the institution a 
ground-plot of about forty acres, a portion of which 
is highly improved. Besides the beautiful walks and 
gardens with which the grounds are embellished, the 
institution has also a collection of exotic and green- 
house plants, that was once the property of Columbia 
College. This asylum is not only among the oldest 
of its class in the country, but it has likewise received 
the benefits of the experience of the most noted insti- 
tutions of the kind in Europe ; it has also contributed 
much to the skill in, and practical knowledge of, the 
treatment of the insane, that is now so prevalent in 
our country. 

§ 257. New 'York Dispensary . 

The New -York Dispensary was originated in 1790, 
by a few benevolent individuals, to provide gratuitous 
medical treatment for the destitute, and incorporated 
in 1795. Though often greatly restricted in its oper- 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 247 

ations by its want of means, the institution lias ex- 
tended relief to multitudes of the sick poor, and the 
field of its operation is constantly extending. In 1828, 
nine thousand three hundred and ninety-eight sick or 
diseased persons were treated; in 1835, no less than 
twenty-three thousand four hundred and forty-four ; 
and in 1847, twenty-eight thousand two hundred and 
twenty-seven patients were relieved. The institution 
has three principal locations — one in Centre-street, at 
the (*orner of Franklin ; another, called the " North- 
ern Dispensary," at the corner of Waverley-place and 
Christopher-street; and still another, called the "East- 
ern Dispensary," at the corner of Ludlow-street and 
Essex Market-place. For its funds it depends chiefly 
upon private subscriptions, though it receives a small 
yearly grant from the city government, and also occa- 
sional grants from the State legislature. 

^ 258. Deaf and Dumb Institution. 

The Institution for the Deaf and Dumb was incorpo- 
rated in April, 1817. It is located on Fiftieth-street, 
near the Fourth-avenue, about three and a half miles 
from the City Hall. The school was first opened in 
May, 1818, and was for several years held in the old 
alms-house building in the City Hall. The founda- 
tion of the present edifice was laid in October, 1827, 
and the school first occupied it in the spring of 1829. 
The building, as then erected, was one hundred and 
ten feet long on Fiftieth-street and sixty-feet deep, 
and three stories high above the basement. In 1884 
an additional story was put upon the main building; 
and in 1838 two wings, each about thirty feet square 
and four stories high, were erected, giving to the 

11* 



248 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

building an eastern and a western front of ninety 
feet. In 1846 two additional wings, eighty-five by 
thirty feet each, with connecting wings, twenty by 
twenty-three feet, were erected, affording spacious ac- 
commodations for the increasing number of pupils. 

The management of the institution is vested in a 
board of twenty-five directors. The president, who 
unites in himself the two offices of head of the so- 
ciety and principal instructor, has the general direc- 
tion and control of the whole concern, being aided in 
the direction by an executive committee, and in the 
department of instruction and government by a large 
number of able and efficient teachers. The efforts 
that have here been made to develop the latent 
powers of minds, access to which by one of the chief 
avenues has been closed, has been eminently success- 
ful. More than six hundred pupils have participated 
in its advantages, and have gone forth prepared, both 
in heart and intellect, to discharge their various social 
duties — capable of self-support, and emulous of the 
esteem of the wise and good — and especially animated 
by the hope of a future state, where physical infirmity 
shall not be known. 

§ 259. Institution for the Blind. 

The success that was crowning the efforts for the 
instruction of the deaf and dumb, suggested to some 
of those engaged in that work the propriety of at- 
tempting to do something for the blind. An associa- 
tion for that purpose was accordingly formed, which 
was incorporated in April, 1831, by the name of " The 
New -York Institution for the Blind." The next 
year three children were put under instruction as an 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 249 

experiment, and the result was said to be sucli as 
" afforded decisive evidence of the.capabilities of tlie 
blind for receiving instruction/' Further " experi- 
ments " were still more satisfactory, and a lively in- 
terest was presently awakened in behalf of that 
hitherto unhappy and hopeless class of persons. In 
1834 the legislature of the State made provision for 
the support of thirty-two indigent pupils. From that 
time the institution has maintained a career of un- 
broken prosperity. The provisions in behalf of indi- 
gent pupils have since been so extended as to pro- 
vide for one from each assembly district — a hundred 
and twenty-eight in all. The system of instruction 
includes all the ordinary English branches, and also 
some of the more advanced studies. Music also, both 
vocal and instrumental, is much attended to, and 
many useful arts are taught. The library contains 
about seven hundred volumes in embossed letters ; 
the institution is also furnished with maps and globes 
adapted to the wants of the blind. The grounds of 
the institution comprise an entire square, bounded by 
Eighth and Ninth-avenues, and Thirty- third and 
Thirty-founth-streets. The edifice is a fine Gothic 
structure of white marble, from the prison quarries at 
Sing-Sing, three stories high, and a hundred and 
seventy-five feet in length. 

• 

^ 260. New -York Orphan Asylum. 

Near the close of the last century an association of 
ladies was formed, headed by the celebrated Isabella 
Graham, for the relief of poor widows with small 
children. This unpretending society, which was the 
pioneer of that class of institutions in this country, 



250 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

has continued in successful operation for more tlian 
half a century. Its members have visited thousands 
of the abodes of wretchedness, dispensing both tempo- 
ral relief and spiritual instruction and comfort. But 
while engaged in their errands of mercy, these be- 
nevolent females were forcibly impressed with a con- 
viction of the necessities of a class of poor that lay 
beyond their immediate sphere of action — those desti- 
tute ones whom death had deprived of both their 
parents. Accordingly several ladies, among whom 
were the widow of the late General Hamilton and 
Mrs. Joanna Bethune, associated for the purpose of 
providing an asylum for destitute orphan children. 
The society was fully organized in the spring of 1806, 
and the asylum opened on the first day of May in that 
year. The institution was at first located in Green- 
wich village, where it was sustained by private liber- 
ality and an annual grant of five hundred dollars 
from the State. In the year 1836 a new building 
for the accommodation of the orphans was commenced 
at Bloomingdale, near Seventy-first-street, whither the 
institution was removed in 1840. The grounds amount 
to nearly ten acres, and the building is large and com- 
modious. The number of children composing the fam- 
ily ranges from a hundred to a hundred and fifty, who 
are provided with everything requisite for their com- 
fort and protection, as well as for their mental and 
moral culture. 

§ 261. Leake and Watts'* Asylum. 

In the year 1827 John G. Leake, Esq., left a large 
legacy for the establishment of an asylum for orphans 
in the city of New -York, constituting John Watts, Esq., 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 251 

the executor of this portion of his will, and also making 
him the legatee of a portion of the estate. Mr. Watts 
generously added his own portion of the estate of Mr. 
Leake to that given for the orphan-house, and also 
faithfully executed the provisions of the will, so that 
the names of those two benevolent persons have be- 
come associated in the title of the institution that owes 
its existence to their united liberality. 

The institution is located about seven miles from 
the City Hall, between the Fourth and Fifth-avenues, 
and One-hundred-and-eleventh and One-hundred-and- 
twelfth-streets. It consists of a main building, front- 
ing toward the south, and two wings — the whole front 
being two hundred and six feet in length. It was first 
opened for the admission of the children on the first 
of November, 1843. 

The institution owns about twenty-six acres of land 
in connection with its buildings, and also possesses an 
income sufiicient for the maintenance of more than 
two hundred children. The beauty of the surround- 
ing scenery, as seen from this point, together with the 
history of the institution, and the nature of its design, 
render this establishment an object of peculiar interest. 

§ 262. Colored Orphan Asylum, 

An association for -the benefit of colored orphans 
was organized in the autumn of 1836 ; its patrons 
being impelled to this measure by the necessities of a 
most helpless class of persons, against whom the doors 
of the ordinary charities of the city were shut. After 
experiencing much difficulty in procuring the neces- 
sary accommodations, a house, with two lots of ground, 
on Twelfth- street, was purchased for nine thousand 



252 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

dollars. Here the asylum was opened, and continued 
to dispense its favors to tlie needy objects of its be- 
nevolence. Contributions were also solicited for a 
building-fund, distinct from those for the current ex- 
penses, which, in 1840, amounted to thirteen thousand 
dollars. Two years after, the corporation granted to 
the society twenty lots of ground on the Fifth-avenue, 
between Forty-third and Forty-fourth-streets. On 
this location was, soon afterward, erected the pres- 
ent asylum building, — a plain substantial edifice, 
adapted to utility rather than ostentation. The af- 
fairs of the society are conducted by a committee of 
ladies, assisted by an advisory committee of gentle- 
men, and under the general supervision of the Gov- 
ernors of the Alms-house. The internal arrange- 
ments, as also the general policy of the institution, 
are most excellent. About one hundred and fifty 
colored orphan children are here provided for. 

§ 263. Other benevolent institutions. 

Several other charitable institutions, scarcely less 
worthy of notice than the foregoing, each having its 
own special field of operation, are found in the city. 

The House of Refuge for juvenile delinquents was 
organized and went into operation more than a quar- 
ter of a century since. It is designed, as its name 
signifies, for children and youth of both sexes, who, 
led astray by the temptations of the town, have been 
detected in petty offenses ; and its purpose is less to 
punish than to reform and protect the subjects of its 
salutary discipline. Few of the institutions of the city 
are engaged in a nobler work than this, and few if any 
with more certain success. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 253 

The Home for the Friendless, a spacious and commo- 
dious edifice, is designed for the relief of friendless 
and unprotected females, and little children. It 
belongs to the American Female Guardian Society, 
and is located on Thirtieth-street, near the Fourth- 
avenue. 

The Colored Home for the aged, — the Home of the 
Prison Association, — the House of Protection, (a Koman 
Catholic institution,) — the Home for Aged and Her 
spectable Females, situated in Twentieth-street, and 
under the direction of the Episcopal denomination, 
and a like institution in Greenwich village, under 
Methodist pah'onage and direction, may also be enu- 
merated among this class of benevolent establish- 
ments. 

§ 264. Charitable institutions for seamen. 

As a great commercial city. New -York is interested 
in whatever relates to maritime affairs, and especially 
in the protection of the persons employed in the mer- 
cantile marine of the city. There have accordingly 
risen up, from time to time, in the city, associations 
for the relief of the destitute and* needy of that class 
of persons. 

The Marine Society, chartered in 1770, is a mutual- 
benefit society, designed for the relief of its own mem- 
bers, and for providing for the widows and orphans of 
deceased members. The whole sum disbursed in the 
past eighty years is about one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars. 

The Seamen's Retreat, situated on Staten Island, 
was established by the legislature of the State in 
1831, for providing a hospital for sick and disabled 



254 CITY OF NEW- YORK. 

seamen. It is supported chiefly by a poll-tax on all 
mariners coming to the port of New -York; and all 
persons who have paid such tax are, when in need, 
entitled to the privileges of the Retreat. More re- 
cently the trustees have been directed by the legisla- 
ture to provide a building to be exclusively devoted 
to the use of the destitute sick or infirm mothers, 
wives, sisters, daughters, or widows, of such seamen 
as have for two years contributed to the funds of the 
hospital. 

The Sailor^ s Snug Harbor, on the north side of the 
same island, was founded in 1801, by a bequest made 
by Captain Eobert Richard Randall, for maintaining 
aged and infirm seamen. The property so devised 
was at first estimated to be worth about fifty thousand 
dollars, but it has since greatly increased in value. 
For many years the hospital was located on a portion 
of the property on Broadway, near Ninth-street, till 
the growth of the city in that part made a more re- 
tired location desirable, and at the same time gave a 
greatly advanced value to the property there occupied. 
Connected with the asylum at its present location is a 
farm of one hundrefl and sixty acres of land. 

The Mariners' Family Industrial Society was estab- 
lished in 1843, to provide work, at a fair compensa- 
tion, for the females of the families of seamen, and to 
assist those who are unable to labor. Through the 
exertions of the managers of this body, assistance has 
been rendered to many who otherwise would have 
been compelled to submit to many privations. 

Tlie Sailor^s Home in Cherry-street, designed as a 
boarding-house for seamen while on shore, was found- 
ed in 1841. It is a substantial brick edifice, six 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS — CHARITIES. 255 

stories liigli, containing one hundred and thirty 
sleeping-rooms, an immense dining-room, and a read- 
ing-room, with other necessary apartments. Ahout 
five hundred hoarders can here he accommodated, 
with all the comforts and conveniences of a liome. 

§ 265. Religious institutions for seamen. 

In the city is a Port Society, designed to provide a 
place of puhlic worship for seamen, hy which a house 
of worship was erected in Koosevelt-street nearly 
thirty years since, which is supplied with a pastor, 
and the usual Church services. Several of the prin- 
cipal denominations, also, maintain places of worship 
specially designed for seamen. In Cherry-street, near 
Clinton, is the First Mariners' Methodist Episcopal 
Bethel, a plain and neat edifice, capahle of accommoda- 
ting a thousand persons ; and the same denomination 
also maintains a floating Bethel at the foot of Eector- 
street, on the Hudson River, where puhlic worship is 
conducted, not only in the English language, hut also 
in those of several of the nations of northern Europe. 
At the foot of Pike-street is the floating Episcopal 
Bethel ; and in Cherry-street, near Market, is the Bap- 
tist Seamen's Chapel. In this way have the citizens 
of New -York shown their regard for this hardy hut 
long-neglected class, hy providing for them when in 
port, and for their families when they are ahsent, the 
means of religious culture. 



256 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

EDUCATION. 

§ 266. Early destitution. 

In the early times of the city of Xew-York, compara- 
tively little attention was given to the subject of 
learning. The means necessary for obtaining even a 
plain elementary education were not enjoyed by the 
great body of the people. Nor was this deficiency 
limited to the period of the city's infancy ; it extended 
with but little improvement quite down to the time 
of the Eevolution. It thus happened that, while in 
most of the other American colonies a good degree of 
zeal in the cause of popular education was manifested 
by the provincial and municipal authorities, in New- 
York, for a long time, nothing of the kind was done ; 
so that it was quite out of the power of any but the 
wealthy to obtain even an indifferent education for 
their children. But this reproach has since been most 
effectually removed. New -York may now fearlessly 
challenge a comparison with her sister cities in her 
educational facilities ; for while she has colleges and 
high-schools equaling theirs, her system of common- 
schools has few, if any, equals in the country. 

§ 267. King's {Columbia) College. 

The oldest of our institutions of learning is the ven- 
erable foundation originally known as King's College. 
As early as 1746, vigorous measures were adopted for 
establishing a college in New -York; but on account 
of the disagreement between the royal officers and the 



EDUCATION. 257 

provincial assembly, as to the ecclesiastical character 
of the proposed institution, several years transpired 
before anything was ' effected. At length, however, 
as nsual, the royal party prevailed, and the college 
Avent into operation under the auspices of the Episco- 
pal denomination, in connection with the Established 
Church of England. A royal charter, dated Oct. 31, 
1754, was received, giving the new institution the 
usual franchises of an English college, and designa- 
ting it King's College. Two years later, an edifice 
was erected for the use of the college, on grounds 
granted for that purpose by the corporation of Trinity 
Church, and soon after the institution was opened for 
the reception of students. In the course of a few 
years a grammar school and a medical department 
were added, and before the beginning of the war of 
the Eevolution its course of actual instruction em- 
braced most of the branches usually pursued in Euro- 
pean colleges. But the war suddenly ended all its 
operations ; the students were dispersed, and the build- 
ings appropriated to military purposes. 

§ 268. 'Primary education. 

Before the Eevolution no decided efforts had been 
made to provide the means of primary instruction for 
the whole juvenile population. No sort of a sj'stem 
of common-school education was then in existence in 
New -York. The whole business of education was left 
to regulate itself, or, if regarded at all by the public 
authorities, it was rather to lay new burdens and re- 
strictions upon it, than to give to it increased facilities 
and a wider application. Such as sufficiently highly 
appreciated the value of education, and were able to 



258 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

pay the expense of it, availed themselves of such facili- 
ties as were offered hj private teacliers, many of whom 
were quite inadequate to the responsibilities they as- 
sumed. Yet these schools, inadequate as they were, 
served a most valuable purpose, and preserved some 
little degree of ^learning among the forming popu- 
lation of the infant city. In consequence of these 
deficiencies, the standard of intelligence among the 
people of New -York, on the eve of the war of the Kev- 
olution, was far from elevated ; yet the seminal prin- 
ciples of intelligence were among them, and these, 
united to the active spirit of freedom that prevailed, 
could not fail of a large and prosperous development. 

§ 269. Educational matters after the Revolution. 

After the restoration of peace, the attention of the 
people began to be directed, with greatly increased 
interest, to the cause of education. The influence of 
patriotism — a sentiment that had attained a great 
influence during the recent political agitations — was 
now added to that of parental care and solicitude, and 
education soon came to be considered a public as well 
as a private concern. Schools were accordingly in- 
creased, both by private enterprise and by the com- 
bined efibrts of liberal and benevolent individuals ; 
and a largely-increased number of children was found 
attending them. Among the earliest public move- 
ments toward satisfying the increasing demands were 
those made by the Churches and ecclesiastical bodies. 
By several of these, schools were established and main- 
tained ; which, as they were sustained by a large num- 
ber of individuals, were thus rendered more stable, 
and also more elevated in their character. For nearly 



EDUCATION. 259 

a quarter of a century these private and ecclesiastical 
schools were all that the city enjoyed as facilities for 
promoting primary education. 

§ 270. Free-schools. 

The system of free-schools, now the prevailing form 
of puhlic education, dates from the beginning of the 
present century. During the later years of the last 
century and the first of the present, a number of be- 
nevolent ladies, acting as an " Association for the Ee- 
lief of the Poor," while engaged in their errands of 
mercy, became cognizant of the deplorable ignorance 
and consequent degradation of the children of the 
poor, and resolved to attempt to do something to re- 
move these evils. A school established under the 
auspices of this association was commenced in the lat- 
ter part of the year 1802. From this humble begin- 
ning the prevailing system of free-schools grew up, 
and has continued to increase to its present extent and 
usefulness ; and by its operations the public mind is 
settling down upon the conviction that, among the 
duties of the commonwealth, that of providing the 
means of education for all its children is not the least 
important, and certainly binding. 

§ 271. The Free- School Society. 

The efforts thus made to meet the demands for ed- 
ucation, though wholly insufficient for the work un- 
dertaken, were at least a recognition of the wants of 
^he poor in this matter, and of the duty of the public. 
This was soon felt and made operative among others 
besides the benevolent association that had already 
begun to act in the business. In 1805 a few philan- 

12 



260 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

thropic gentlemen met to consult as to the feasibility 
of some means of answering the demands of the chil- 
dren of the poor for elementary education. Their de- 
liberations resulted in the formation of a "Free-School 
Society — for the education of children who do not be- 
long to, and are not provided for by any religious 
society;" and the association thus formed was soon 
afterward incorporated by the State legislature, hav- 
ing De Witt Clinton for its president, and many of 
the first citizens for its members and patrons. The 
funds required for the prosecution of the work thus 
undertaken were raised by voluntary contributions. 
The first school established by the new society was 
opened, in May, 1806, in Bancker (Madison) street, 
not far from its junction with Pearl-street. Events 
soon proved that the society had met a real want of 
the community ; and that while on the one hand the 
hopeful recipients of its bounties were multiplied al- 
most without limit, on the other hand both public and 
private munificence were cheerfully extended to them. 
Soon after its commencement, Colonel Henry Eutgers 
presented to the society a lot of ground in Henry- 
street, valued at twenty-five hundred dollars, to be 
occupied by a school-house. The next year the affairs 
of the society were laid before the legislature of the 
State, accompanied by a request for pecuniary aid, 
which was answered by a grant of four thousand 
dollars for the building of a school-house, and one 
thousand dollars annually toward paying the current 
expenses of the school. About the same time the_ 
city authorities granted the society the use of a build- 
ing on the north-west corner of the Park for a school- 
house, on the condition that fifty of the children of 



EDUCATION. 261 

the alms-house should be taught iu the school. To 
this place the Free-School was therefore removed from 
its first location in Bancker-street. So well did this 
new plan operate, that the next year a large and com- 
modious building on Try on-row, near Chatham-street, 
formerly occupied as an arsenal, was conveyed to th^ 
society, with a grant of money to aid in fitting it for 
its new designation, on the condition that all the chil- 
dren in the alms-house should be admitted to the 
school. The same year a school-house was erected 
upon the lot granted by Col. Eutgers, by means of 
funds received from the State and from individual 
donations, and soon after a second school was opened 
in that place. 

§ 272. Moral and religious instruction in the free-schools. 

The board of the " Free-School " had, from the first, 
contained individuals of various religious denomina- 
tions, and, by common consent, all ecclesiastical ques- 
tions were carefully excluded. They, however, always 
recognized the duty of caring for the moral and re- 
ligious instruction of those cast upon their protection. 
They accordingly from the first had directed that the 
Holy Scriptures should be read at the daily opening 
of the schools. At length, at the request of many of 
the active friends of the society, an association of 
highly respectable ladies, of different religious denom- 
inations, were permitted to meet at the school-rooms 
once a week, to instruct the pupils from such cate- 
chisms as their parents might approve. At the same 
time Sunday monitors were appointed to conduct the 
children to appropriate places of worship. Such ser- 
vices rather indicate the necessities of the times when 



262 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

they were used, than suggest matter of practical utility 
in the present condition of things. 

§ 273. The Common- School Fund. 

In 1815 the first dividend of the Common-School 
nPund of the State was made, in the distrihution of 
which the Free-Schools received nearly four thousand 
dollars, as the first annual installment. In this the 
hoard saw an assurance of a certain and steady supply 
of the funds requisite for the prosecution of their work 
of henevolence, and accordingly they expressed their 
high appreciation of the munificence of the State to- 
ward their enterprise. It is only just to remark, that 
this association, having always justified the confidence 
then reposed in it, has also continued to the present 
time to participate largely in the bounty of the State 
government. 

§ 274. Increase of schools. 

The two schools already noticed were the only ones 
established and maintained by the society before the 
year 1818, when a third school was opened in a build- 
ing granted for that purpose on the corner of Amos 
and Hudson-streets, in Greenwich village, and soon 
after removed to a new school-house, built upon ground 
given by Trinity Church, in Christopher (now Grove) 
street. The next year a fourth school was opened, 
and a house erected, by means of aid from the State ; 
and in 1820 another, the fifth, located in Mott-street. 
In 1824, the alms-house having been removed to 
Bellevue, at the request of the city authorities the 
board opened a school in that place, designed espe- 
cially for the benefit of the pauper children. The 



y 



* 



EDUCATION. 263 

society had thus, in the term of eighteen years, from 
its humble school of forty scholars, increased steadily, 
till now its six schools contained an a2:2:reffate of four 
thousand three hundred and eighty-four scholars, and 
had fairly won for itself the position of the proper dis- 
penser of the public funds for i^e promotion of popu- 
lar education, especially among the poor and destitute. 
The range of its system of instruction was steadily 
enlarging; the rigid economy that pervaded all its 
affairs enabled it to do much with its limited means ; 
and, by the joint aid of the public funds placed at the 
disposal of the board, and of private liberality, these 
schools were maintained without expense to the pupils. 

§ 275. Rival schools and societies. 

It has already been stated that, from an early pe- 
riod, many of the Churches and ecclesiastical bodies 
in the city had maintained schools in connection with 
their proper religious organizations. They were at 
first compelled to that course by the want of any ade- 
quate provisions for primary education, under the care 
of the civil government, as well as by a laudable zeal 
for the best interests of their own children and youth. 
It was only proper, therefore, that when public munifi- 
cence was extended to the several schools of the city, 
these should share with the others. The plan of dis- 
tributing to all regularly organized schools in propor- 
tion to the number of children actually taught, worked 
very well for a time ; but it was presently found to be 
liable to abuses. It was at length ascertained that 
certain ecclesiastical schools, over which the public 
had no supervision or control, were drawing together 
large numbers of children, and diverting the pub- 



264 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

lie funds to themselves. By employing teachers at 
low rates, and affording an inferior order of instruc- 
tion, these schools were able, not only to meet their 
own expenses, but to become a source of emolument, 
and of Church aggrandizement. These surplus funds 
were permitted to beiemployed in erecting additional 
school-houses, which thus became the property of their 
respective Church corporations, and were liable to be 
alienated to purposes quite foreign to the interests of 
education. This was quite unsatisfactory to the peo- 
ple generall}^ and at length the whole subject was 
referred to the legislature for its authoritative inter- 
ference. By that body a law was soon after passed, 
confining the application of the Common-School Funds 
for the city of New- York to the schools under the care 
of the " Free-School Society,'^ " the Mechanics' So- 
ciety," " the Orphan Asylum Society,'^ and of the 
" Trustees of the African Schools. '^ 

Thus encouraged, the first-named society continued 
to enlarge its operations. A new school-house was 
built in Christie-street, near Walker-street, in which 
another school, making seven in all, was opened on 
the first day of May, 1826 ; and in the following No- 
vember still another, in Grand-street, near "VVooster. 
About the same time a school, established some time 
before at Bloomingdale, was taken into the care of 
the society — making the ninth school now sustained 
by the labors and funds of the society. 

§ 276. State of learning. 

The insufficiency of the existing provisions for pri- 
mary education became more and more manifest as 
the efforts of the " Public-School Society" (the name 



EDUCATION. 



265 



given to the Free-School Society in its amended char- 
ter) disclosed the true state of things. The necessity 
for some more comprehensive system hegan to he con- 
fessed by the more intelligent and liberal portion of 
the people. The plan of making the schools free to 
all, and of maintaining them at the public expense, 
began to be considered, and was at length adopted. 
AVhile this project was under discussion (1829) a thor- 
ough enumeration was made of all the children in 
the city, and all the schools of every class and grade, 
the result of which is given in the following table : — 



o 
Vi 

430 

3 

19 

11 

463 


Kinds. 


■a 

« -2 
g| 

-= .2 
Jl 

691 
29 
30 
45 

795 


AGKS OF PUPILS. 


STUDIES PUBSUBD. 


Total. 

1 

15,320 
1,081 
2,544 
6,007 

24,952 


u en 

1,013 

33 

197 

1,243 


13,631 
1,008 
2,297 
6,007 

22,943 


-A 

676 
40 
50 

766 


§ s 

If 


III 
ess 

III 


"3) it's 


< i 


Private 


6,907 7.'2U 


1,869 

270 

15 


442 

48 

1 


Incorporated.... 
Charity 


220 
2,430 
6,007 


840 
960 
475 


Public 




Total 


15,564 


9,489 


2 154 


491 




-i,At/1 





In this enumeration was included every grade of 
schools, from the college to the dames' alphabet classes ; 
so that a truthful exhibit of the educational apparatus 
for the whole city was thus made. The whole popu- 
lation of the city, at that time, amounted to about two 
hundred thousand: so that it appeared that only one- 
eighth of the whole were attending school at all ; or, 
allowing one quarter of the whole to have been be- 
tween the ages of five and fifteen, not more than one- 
half of tliese were in any of the schools of the city. 
The statement of the branches taught indicated the 
low degree of attainment among those who attended 
the schools — of whom three-fifths were confined to the 



266 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

first elements — spelling, reading, and writing — while 
most of those further advanced had gone no further 
than to add to these some little attention to the first 
principles of arithmetic, English grammar and mod- 
ern geography. A little more than two thousand 
were reported to he pursuing the higher English 
studies — mostly in private schools — and less than five 
hundred were studying the ancient languages. These 
statistics present a sad picture of the wants of the 
cause of education in the city at that period ; hut they 
led to the remedy for the evils they proclaimed. 

§ 277. Progress of the cause of education. 

The energy and perseverance exhibited by the Pub- 
lic-School Society secured for itself 4 large share of 
public confidence, and at the same time gave rise to 
increased interest in the cause of popular education. 
Almost the whole of the Common-School Funds for 
the city were intrusted to the disposition of that soci- 
ety, and were, by its board of officers, most judiciously 
employed in forwarding the common cause. New 
schools were established in various parts of the city, 
the system of instruction was revised and extended, 
increased facilities for teaching were provided, and, by 
increased experience, the teachers were constantly be- 
coming better adapted to their stations and duties. 
To efiect a more thorough classification, primary 
schools, distinct from the more general ones, were es- 
tablished, designed for those who were pursuing only 
the first elements. These schools w^ere regarded by 
the public with much favor ; and so rapidly were they 
multiplied that they soon outnumbered those for the 
more advanced pupils. 



EDUCATION. 267 

During the latter part of the year 1834 the man- 
agers of the Manumission Society transferred their 
sA)ols for colored children to the Puhlic-School So- 
ciety, as it was helieved that they could he hest man- 
aged by an association wholly devoted to the advance- 
ment of popular education, and the character of that 
society was esteemed a sufficient guarantee that the 
trust thus confided to them would be discharged with 
all requisite fidelity. 

The growing operations of the society continued to 
demand increased facilities and a greater number of 
properly qualified teachers. To meet these demands, 
in 1841 a building, designed to be used as a trustees' 
hall, and for various other purposes of the society, was 
projected, and built at the corner of Grand and Elm- 
streets. Here is the society's depository, and here a 
normal school for training teachers was established. 
At that time the society had under its care thirty- 
four public-schools and sixty primaries. 

§ 278. Opposition and advancement. 

The favor with which the operations of the Public- 
School Society were so generally regarded was not, 
however, universal. The leading persons of the Eo- 
man Catholic denomination were not pleased that an 
institution over which they could not exercise a con- 
trolling influence should have the whole duty of pro- 
viding for the education of the masses committed to 
their direction. A portion of the public funds was 
claimed for the benefit of their own ecclesiastical 
schools. To grant their request would have been to 
abandon the course of policy under which the Public- 
School Society had built up the system of common- 

12* 



268 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

scliool education, tliat was shedding so happy an in- 
fluence on the cause of popular instruction in New- 
York. It was evident, too, that if the Koman Catft)- 
lics were permitted to participate in the public funds, 
all other sects would demand the same in behalf of 
their schools. The subject, however, was earnestly 
pressed by the Eoman Catholic leaders, and at length 
it was made a political question. It was plead that the 
public nature of the cause of education required a 
more popular constitution of the official boards of in- 
struction than was the case with the Public-School 
Society. In 1842 an act was passed by the legisla- 
ture of the State, materially modifying the whole sys- 
tem of public education for the city of New -York. 
This law was hastily prepared, and, when reduced 
to practice, its details were found exceedingly imper- 
fect or conflicting. The next year the whole subject 
was reviewed by the legislature, and the law so 
amended as to perpetuate the Public-School Society 
in its former efficiency, but placing it, in common 
with all the schools that were permitted to receive the 
public funds, under the general oversight of a popu- 
larly elected board of public education. Under this 
arrangement the afi'airs of the society have gone on 
steadily and prosperously to the present time. In 
1850 it had under its care one hundred and fifteen 
schools, containing an aggregate of fifty-three thou- 
sand five hundred and forty-six pupils, conducted at 
an annual expense of ;gl 31,121, and holding real 
estate estimated to be worth a little more than 
)J300,000, and encumbered with a permanent debt of 
gl20,000. 



EDUCATION. 269 

§ 279. The ivard-schools. 

The Public-School Society was the pioneer in the 
cause of popular education in the city of New -York. 
At first its efforts were directed only to the indigent 
and neglected — to such as " were not provided for by 
any religious society." In 1808 its sphere was some- 
what enlarged, and it was authorized to receive " all 
children who are the proper objects of a gratuitous 
education." When the common-school system of the 
State came into operation, that society was made the 
agent through which the public bounty was dispensed, 
and, in 1826, it was directed to " provide for the educa- 
tion of all the children in the city not otherwise pro- 
vided for, to the extent of its ability." Matters con- 
tinued in that position until the year 1842, when the 
present system of public instruction was adopted. 
This system provides for a Board of Commissioners for 
the whole city, and a Board of School Trustees for 
each ward, all chosen by the voters of the city, and 
of the several wards. The commissioners have the gen- 
eral superintendence of all the schools in the city that 
receive any portion of the common-school funds, while 
the trustees hold the school property in their several 
wards, and direct in many of the details of their gov- 
ernment. They have the exclusive power to employ 
teachers, and to direct in the selection of books to be 
used after the schools have been brought fully into 
operation. The power of these trustees does not, how- 
ever, extend to the schools, nor the property of the 
Public-School Society. 

Under the new school law, additional school-houses 
are established, chiefly under the care of the ward 



270 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

trustees, and thus a new class of scliools, of which 
there were none hefore the passage of the law of 1842, 
have sprung up in the city. The Puhlic-School So- 
ciety, at the same time, has prosecuted its work with 
unahated activity, so that there are here two distinct 
classes of schools, occupying at once the same ground, 
though hoth under the same general supervision. It 
would scarcely be expected that these rival systems 
should not be the occasion of some jealousies ; though 
recently these have been rather mollified than ex- 
asperated, until at length they are found cooperating 
in the common cause of education, with a good degree 
of harmony. The ward-schools are conducted on much 
the same plan with the public-schools ; and while the 
latter have the advantage of greater maturity and the 
disinterested counsel of the trustees of the society, 
the former are the special subjects of the public 
bounty. In 1850 there were sixty-five ward-schools, 
containing together forty-five thousand eight hundred 
and seventy-two pupils. 

^ 280. Corporate-schools. 

Beside the two classes of schools already described, 
there are in the city a number of schools under the 
care of special corporations, generally of the nature 
of charity-schools. Of these, the most considerable 
are the Manhattan Free-School ; the Hamilton Free- 
School ; the Mechanics' Society School ; and the 
scliools of the " New -York Society for the Promotion 
of Education among Colored Children." In this class 
are also reckoned the schools maintained in several 
of the asylums, and other public institutions having 
the care of children. The whole number of children 



EDUCATION. 271 

taught in all these corporate-schools, in 1850, was 
three thousand five hundred and fifty-six, which, add- 
ed to the sum of those taught in the public and 
ward schools, make up an aggregate of one hundred 
and two thousand nine hundred and seventy-four 
pupils actually taught in the common-schools of the 
city in one year. This shows a most gratifying prog- 
ress in the course of popular instruction in the city 
during the past twenty years ; for, while in 1829, only 
one-eighth of the population attended schools of any 
kind, now nearly one-fifth are found in the various 
classes of common-scliools, besides the multitudes that 
are still attending the various private and public 
schools not under the care of the Board of Education. 
All the schools that share in the common-school 
funds are entirely free, as to both tuition and school 
requisites. 

§ 281. The Free Academy — its origin. 

The progress made in the cause of popular educa- 
tion in New -York, at length suggested to the active 
friends of that cause the need and the practicability 
of still further extending the benefits of the system. 
Especially was it found necessary to make some better 
provisions for supplying the schools already existing 
with a sufiicient number of properly qualified teachers. 
Considerable numbers of the most g,dvanced pupils of 
the common-schools were compelled from time to time 
reluctantly to leave the schools, and to relinquish the 
further pursuit of learning, only because they had 
gone over the whole course of instruction there offered 
to them. It was becoming evident that the number 
of this class of pupils was so rapidly increasing, that 



272 CITY OF NEW- YORK. 

very soon enough would be found to fill a properly- 
organized higli-school. This state of things resulted 
in the end in the establishment of the Free Academy. 
The matter was first agitated during the year 1846, 
and the next year the subject was laid before the 
legislature, and an act procured, granting the power 
to establish the proposed school, provided the scheme 
should be sanctioned by the votes of the electors. 
The question was accordingly submitted to the people 
in the month of June of tliat year, and sustained by 
more than five-sixths of those who voted at all on its 
merits. 

§ 282. Free Academy — location, etc. 

The institution thus founded is located on the south- 
easterly corner of Lexington-avenue and Twenty- 
third-street. The edifice is one hundred and twenty- 
five feet long, and eighty broad ; and consists, besides 
the basement, of three spacious stories, each of which 
is intersected by two wide passages running at right 
angles quite across the building. It is designed to 
accommodate a thousand students, with all the neces- 
sary appliances for teaching. The building is of the 
Gothic style of architecture, but so arranged as to 
combine economy, with all necessary architectural 
embellishments. The cost of the structure was limited, 
by act of the legislature, to ^50,000, and less than 
that sum was actually expended upon it. The cost 
of the site was ;S25,000, and that of the furniture and 
fixtures necessary for commencing the academical 
course, j510,000. The school was first opened for the 
reception of pupils about the beginning of the year 
1849, with a faculty of ten able professors ; and during 



.i'^.:v5s!''^|!|:i:l:ili^i.;;Mlrfc 




EDUCATION. 275 

the year more than two hundred students were ad- 
mitted to its classes. 

§ 283. Free Academy — course of study. 
The system of instruction pursued at the Free Acad- 
emy is substantially identical with that found in 
most of the higher schools and colleges in the country, 
though somewhat more closely adapted to the practical 
affairs of life. The qualifications for admission are, 
beside a good moral character, a thorough training in 
the elements of an English education, as taught in 
the more advanced departments of the common-schools 
of the city ; and, rather inconsistently with the design 
of the institution as a free academy, none can he ad- 
mitted to its privileges but such as have been, for at 
least one year, pupils in those schools. After admis- 
sion the student may pursue such parts of the course 
as he, or his parents or guardians for him, may select. 
The course of study comprises ten different depart- 
ments, viz. : Mathematics ; History, and the Belles- 
Lettres ; Languages and Literature ; Drawing ; Nat- 
ural and Experimental Philosophy ; Chemistry and 
Physics ; Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygeine ; Civil 
Engineering ; Moral and Litellectual Philosophy ; Law, 
Political Economy, and Statistics. The instruction 
and discipline of the institution are designed to be 
thorough and effective. The experiment thus far has 
answered the best expectation of its friends, and prom- 
ises to become the crowning glory of our system of 
free-school education. 

§ 284. Columbia College, 
The establishment of a college in New -York dur- 
ing its provincial history has been already noticed. 



276 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

After the close of the revolutionary struggle, that in- 
stitution was revived, and again brought into opera- 
tion. The original name of King's College was ex- 
changed for one more consistent with the political no- 
tions of the people, and since that time the institution 
has been called Columbia College. A board of trustees 
was created for it by an act of the legislature, though 
it continued to be chiefly under the direction of the 
Episcopal denomination. The number of its students 
has never been large, seldom much exceeding one 
hundred ; though it has been served by many able 
teachers, and enjoyed the advantages of liberal en- 
dowments. The college buildings occupy the original 
site of King's College, a short distance westerly from 
Broadway, at the foot of Park-place. The buildings, 
which are ample and commodious, are plain stone 
structures, and less fitted for show than utility. 

§ 285. University of the city of New -York. 

A conviction that the city of New -York required 
additional facilities for collegiate education, led to the 
establishment of the University of the city of Xew- 
York, nearly twenty years since. It was incorporated 
in April, 1831, and, about a year and a half later, was 
opened for the reception of students. The erection of 
suitable buildings engaged the early attention of the 
trustees, and the present edifice, situated on University- 
place, to the east of Washington-square, was com- 
pleted in 1836. It is a beautiful white marble struc- 
ture, of the Gothic style of architecture, and well 
adapted to the purposes for which it was erected. 
A good degree of public patronage has been afforded 
to the institution ; but its efficiency seems to be greatly 



EDUCATION. 277 

retarded by its pecuniary embarrassments. About a 
hundred students are usually found in its under- 
gradifate classes. 

^ 286. Rutger^s Female Institute. 

For a long time tlie ^Yant of suitable bigb-scliools 
for the education of young females was severely felt 
by the people of New-York, but this want was at 
length in some measure relieved by the establish- 
ment of Eutger's Female Institute. This institution 
is located in the south-eastern j^art of the city, not 
far from the mansion of the late Colonel Eutgers. It 
was incorporated in 1838, and soon after went into 
operation with very flattering prospects. Commodious 
buildings for school purposes have since been erected, 
and the success of the enterprise has fully equaled 
the most sanguine hopes of its projectors. The course 
of instruction is well chosen and extensive, affording 
to young ladies all needed facilities for obtaining a 
thorough and liberal education. The institution has 
enjoyed a large share of the favor of the public, and 
the number of its pu2:>ils is always large.. But its lo- 
cation, at an extreme angle of the city, renders its 
privileges unavailable to a large portion of the inhab- 
itants, and suggests the need of similar institutions 
in other parts of the city. 



§ 287. Medical schools. 

Besides these institutions for general education, 
New -York contains a number of schools desio-ned ex- 
clusively for professional education. The oldest of 
these is the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which 
is also the oldest medical school in the State, having 



278 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

been founded in 1807. A medical department had 
existed in Columbia previously, but, in 1813, that was 
merged in the independent medical college. The 
college buildings are situated in Crosby-street, near 
Broome. The institution has a valuable library and 
museum, and is annually attended by nearly two 
hundred students. 

The Medical Department of the University of the 
city of New -York, though nominally a branch of that 
institution, is really under an independent organiza- 
tion. It is located in Fourteenth-street, near Third- 
avenue, and has attained a high degree of prosperity, 
having at times more than four hundred students. 
The college-building contains a large museum, and 
lecture and dissecting-rooms. 

§ 288. Theological schools. 

The General Theological Seminary of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church is located in this city, on Twentieth- 
street, between Ninth and Tenth-avenues. It was 
founded in 1819, by the concurrent action of the sev- 
eral dioceses of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
the United States, and incorporated in 1822. It has 
two noble stone edifices, each fifty-two feet deep and 
one hundred and ten long. The library contains over 
ten thousand volumes ; about seventy students — can- 
didates for the ministry in the Protestant Episcoj^al 
Church — are usually in attendance. 

The Union Theological Seminary was founded in 
1836, and is located on University-place, a little to 
the north-east of the University. The building is a 
commodious edifice, with a chapel, library, lecture- 
rooms, and apartments for students. A valuable 



EDUCATION. 279 

library of seventeen thousand volumes is connected 
with the institution. The Seminary is un'der the 
management of Presbyterians, but it is open to stu- 
dents of any denomination of Christians. The fac- 
ulty consists of six able instructors ; about a hundred 
students are usually in attendance. 

^ 289. Private schools. 

The progress of the common schools of the city, and 
the fact that their privileges are wholly without cost 
to those w^ho enjoy them, have not sujficed to destroy 
the profession of teaching as a private enterprise. 
Private schools and academies of the better class have 
increased in a ratio scarcely less rapid than the com- 
mon schools, and they now constitute an important 
portion of the facilities for education enjoyed by the 
people of New -York. The number of pupils in pri- 
vate schools, in the year 1850, was estimated at nearly 
twenty thousand, made up almost exclusively from the 
middle and more opulent classes. Some of these 
schools have a high reputation, and are sought after 
with much interest by those whose means allow them 
to participate in the advantages they offer. 

§ 290. New -York Society Library. 

Besides schools for the education of young persons, 
there are in the city a variety of institutions designed 
to operate directly in favor of the diffusion of intelli- 
gence among the people. Among these the priority 
in time belongs to the New -York Society Library, 
which is the oldest institution of the kind in the coun- 
try. It was instituted in 1700, during the admin- 
istration of Lord Bellemont. Subsequently it was 



280 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

endowed by the gift of tlie library of Eev. Dr. Mil- 
lington, of England, consisting of a thousand volumes. 
In 1754, the old society having fallen into decay, a 
new organization was formed, and the old library 
committed to its care. This association was in suc- 
cessful operation when the war of the Revolution 
arrested its progress, and spoiled its treasures. After 
the return of peace the society Avas reestablished, and 
in 1794 it occupied a commodious building in Nassau- 
street, near Liberty-street. In 1840 the society took 
possession of its new hall on the corner of Broadway 
and Leonard-street. This building, one hundred feet 
long and sixty wide, is constructed of finely-cut brown 
sandstone, and presents on Broadway a chaste fagade 
of Ionic columns. 

§ 291. The Mercantile Library Association. 

A society composed of merchants' clerks was orig- 
inated in 1820, styled the Mercantile Library Asso- 
ciation. For several years it occupied rooms in Ful- 
ton, and afterward in Cliff-street, until its increasing- 
affairs demanded enlarged accommodations. To afford 
these, a number of merchants subscribed the sum of 
forty thousand dollars, and organized themselves into 
an association for the erection of a hall. The edifice 
thus called into existence, situated on the corner of 
Nassau and Beekman-streets, and known as Clinton 
Hall, was constructed for the accommodation of the 
Library Association, and the free use of the necessary 
apartments was secured to that body on certain very 
liberal conditions. The society consists of about three 
thousand members ; its library contains nearly thirty 
thousand volumes, and its annual income amounts to 



EDUCATION. 281 

more than six thousand dollars. Besides the library 
and reading-room, the society has a valuable cabinet 
of natural history. The privileges of this institution 
are afforded to clerks at a merely nominal price, while 
to all others the rates are much higher. 

§ 292. Mechanics' Associations. 

The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmeny 
established in 1790, occupies the building at No. 32 
Crosbv-street, in which is the male and the female school 
of the society, the Apprentices' Library, and a spacious 
lecture-room. The library was begun in 1820, and is 
designed especially for mechanics' apprentices, who 
are allowed the gratuitous use of the books. The 
number of volumes is over fifteen thousand. The 
entrance to the lecture-room, called " Mechanics' 
Hall," and to the female school, is from Broadway; 
while the boys' school and the library are approached 
from Crosby-street. 

The Mechanics' Institute of the City of New -York 
was founded early in 1833, having for its object the 
diffusion of useful knowledge, by the founding of a li- 
brary and museum, and by procuring annual courses 
of lectures on the physical sciences, and establishing 
day and evening schools and classes for the instruc- 
tion of youth of both sexes. Besides a small library, 
the institution possesses a large collection of minerals, 
many useful and interesting models of machinery, and 
suitable apparatus for instruction. Its school is lo- 
cated in Chambers-street, near the City Hall, and has 
about two hundred pupils, who are instructed in all 
the English branches of education, and in the classics, 
and also in paipting, drawing and music. Any per- 



282 CITY OF NEW-YOKK. 

son of good moral character may become a member 
of the association by the payment of a small sum for 
initiation, and thus secure the use of the library, lec- 
ture-room, and all the privileges of the body. 

§ 293. Learned and scientific societies. 

In addition to the foregoing, all of which have a 
special reference to the education of youth, there are 
in the city a number of valuable scientific associations, 
each devoted to some particular department of the 
sciences, arts, or of letters. Foremost among these is 
the New -York Historical Society, organized in 1804, 
and devoted, as its name indicates, to the science of 
history and statistics. It has a well-selected library 
of about twelve hundred printed volumes, several 
thousand pamphlets, two thousand maps and charts, 
and over a thousand bound volumes of newspapers, 
including a regular series from the first published in 
the country in 1 704 to the present time. 

The American Institute of the City of New -York was 
incorporated in 1829, and is devoted to the interests 
of domestic industry. It holds an annual fair for the 
exhibition of the productions of all trades and indus- 
trial employments. 

To these might be added the Lyceum of Natural 
History, the Ethnological Society, the National Acad- 
emy of Design, the Gallery of the Fine Arts, and sev- 
eral other valuable institutions. 

^ 294. Conclusion. 

Such is a hasty sketch of the provisions made for 
the promotion of education and the prosecution of 
science in New -York ; and it is believed that very 



EDUCATION. 283 

few cities in our country can boast of a more ample 
and generous system of popular instruction, or better 
facilities for gaining knowledge. And when the de- 
pression from which the cause has been raised during 
the past half-century is considered in connection with 
its present elevation, and the breadth of the foundation 
upon which it rests, no estimate of its future growth 
that will probably be made would seem to be extrava- 
gant. It is presumed that the history of the world 
can show no parallel to the progress made by the cause 
of education in this city during the present century. 

13 



284 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

CHAPTEE XIV. 

ENVIRONS OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 295. Suburbs of New -York — Brooklyn. 

Nearly all great cities have large and important sub- 
urbs, and New -York forms no exception to this gen- 
eral rule. While the land on the southern portion of 
Manhattan Island afforded all the space required for 
the accommodation of the city, these outposts were 
inconsiderable villages, possessed of a kind of inde- 
pendent individuality ; but within the past quarter of 
a century the overflowings of the city have reached to 
them, and caused them to disappear as independent 
bodies, and to become absorbed into the great metrop- 
olis. Of these suburban localities the city of Brook- 
lyn is much the most considerable. Lying just over 
the narrow strait that joins the East Eiver to the bay, 
and occupying the w^hole north-western front of Long 
Island, where it approaches nearest to New -York, this 
suburb is actually nearer to the principal business 
portion of the great mart of commerce than most of 
that city itself. As an incorporated town, " Breukelen'' 
was among the oldest of the Dutch settlements on 
Nassau Island, and for many years answered among 
the country people of the island instead of the greater 
city, as the difficulty and danger of passing over the 
ferry deterred very many from the perilous enterprise, 
and led to the establishment of a weekly "fayre " on 
that side of the ferry, to be held alteruately with that 
in the city. The growth of Brooklyn during the sev- 
enteenth and eighteenth centuries was very slow; so 



ENVIRONS OF NEW-YORK. 285 

that at the beginning of the present century it was 
only a poor and straggling village of a few hundred ■ 
inhabitants. Nor was the growth of the village for 
some years later very considerable. As late as 1820 
the population of the whole township was still very 
inconsiderable, most of them being farmers, scattered 
over the open country. From that time to 1830, the 
increase was much more rapid — the additions being 
mostly confined to the village, which now began to 
assume the character of a portion of the great city. 
In 1840 the population was found to have grown to 
36,233, and everything about Brooklyn plainly indi- 
cated that New -York had thrown its arms across the 
dividing waters. In the year 1834 Brooklyn received 
from the legislature of the State a city charter ; so that 
in all its political affairs it is wholly distinct from, and 
independent of, its overgrown neighbor — though in 
all that relates to the reality and vitality of city-hood, 
it is verily a part of New -York. From that time the 
growth of Brooklyn has been rapid, almost beyond a 
parallel ; for in 1850 its population amounted to a very 
little less than 100,000. Brooklyn j^ossesses many 
decided advantages as a place of residence. Its ele- 
vation above the surrounding waters, and the dryness 
of the soil, contribute much to its cleanliness and 
salubrity. Having comparatively little business car- 
ried on within its limits, it is free from the crowd and 
noise that distinguish New -York ; and being easily 
accessible by means of the well-regulated ferries across 
the East River, it is becoming every year more and 
more the favorite retreat of the New -York merchants. 



H 



286 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

^ 296. Brooklyn, continued. 

Brooklyn, being only an extension of New -York 
city beyond its political limits, is, in all its material 
characteristics, a portion of that city ; corresponding 
altogether with those parts of New -York that have 
sprung up simultaneously with it. The small portion 
near the ferries, once covered by the Dutch village, 
has narrow and irregular streets, but in all the other 
parts the streets are sufficiently wide, straight, and 
regular. Except its churches, Brooklyn has few pub- 
lic or private edifices requiring any particular notice. 
The court-house and jail of Kings County is a build- 
ing of no great magnitude or architectural preten- 
sions, situated more than a mile beyond the principal 
ferry, and directly to the west of the great natural 
mound upon which Fort Green was located. The City 
Hall, located at the head of Fulton-street, (the chief 
avenue leading down to the great ferry that commu- 
nicates with the street of the same name in New- 
York,) about three-fourths of a mile from the ferry, 
is one of the most elegant structures in the country. 
It is built of white marble, in the Ionic order of archi- 
tecture, with a portico and colonnade upon the north- 
ern or principal front, and finished with the most rigid 
exactness in all its parts. The building consists of 
three stories, — a basement, a principal, and an upper 
story, — and the whole of it is devoted to the public 
offices of the city of Brooklyn and Kings County. 

§ 297. Brooklyn, continued — the Navy-yard. 

In the eastern part of Brooklyn, on Wallabout Bay, 
is the United States' Navy-yard. In 1801 the gen- 



J 



ENVIRONS OF NEW-YORK. 287 

eral government purcliased atout forty acres of land 
and marsh on Wallabout Bay, on which to erect 
the necessary works of an extensive naval establish- 
ment. A large portion of the public ground is in- 
closed by a high brick wall, and within the yard is a 
great variety of naval stores and armaments, besides 
a considerable amount of shipping. Here was built 
the floating steam -battery Fulton, which was used as 
a receiving-ship and naval-school for nearly twenty 
years, being moored some two hundrtd yards from 
the shore; and there, on the 4th of June, 1829, her 
magazine exploded, and she was reduced to a hopeless 
wreck. Her place as receiving-ship has since been 
supplied by the ship North Carolina. The Ohio, sev- 
enty-four, was also built at this yard, and several other 
smaller vessels of our navy, and more recently the 
San Jacinto, steam-frigate. The dry-dock connected 
with this Navy-yard is its most remarkable feature. 
This is an immense basin, below the water level, of 
sufficient capacity to admit the very largest class of 
vessels, built of immense blocks of granite, and com- 
municating with the bay by a vast gateway. When 
these gates are thrown open, the largest vessel may 
be easily floated into it ; and after the gates are again 
closed, pumps, driven by a steam-engine of the most 
terrific power, soon exhaust the confined water, leav- 
ing the vessel resting quietly upon a cradle prepared 
to recei# it. 

§ 298. The Naval Lyceum — Hospital. 

A Naval Lyceum, connected with this establish- 
ment, was founded in 1833. It includes among its 
members most of the officers of the American navv, 



I 



288 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

and many distinguished civilians. It has a valuable 
library and museum, the latter of which contains many 
rare specimens of natural history, as well as of mili- 
tary and historical relics, and other curiosities. 

On the easterly side of Wallabout Bay, upon a 
gentle elevation, is the United States' Naval Hospital, 
a spacious and truly magnificent edifice of white 
marble. Here the aged or infirm seaman, who has 
devoted the days of his strength to the service of 
his country in ihe navy, finds a home, where he is pro- 
vided with every attention and comfort that his cir- 
cumstances may require, and his services deserve. 

^299. Brooklyn, continued — churches. 

Brooklyn has been honored with the title of the 
" City of Churches," a name to which it was formerly 
better entitled than it is at present. Still it holds 
an enviable elevation in this particular. Most of the 
more considerable church edifices are situated on or 
near the Heights — that portion of the city lying 
to the west of Fulton-street. Some of these are ele- 
gant and costly structures, though generally they are 
more adapted to use than appearance. The First 
Presbyterian church, in Henry-street, is a plain and 
substantial edifice, with a brown-stone front, and a 
heavy square tower. The Church of the Puritans, 
(Congregational,) at the corner of Henry and Kemsen- 
streets, is a large and well-constructed grani^ edifice, 
in the Byzantine order of architecture. The First 
Baptist church, in Nassau-street, is a commodious 
house of worship, of the Norman style. The IMeth- 
odist churches in Sands-street and in Washington- 
street are plain, but well-constructed edifices, of the 



J 



ENVIRONS OF NEW-YORK. 289 

Doric order ; and that in Clinton-street, corner of Pa- 
cific, a more finished specimen of the Eomanesque 
order, with towers at both front angles. The Church 
of the Messiah, in Pierrepont-street, (Unitarian,) is a 
fine specimen of the light Gothic ; the Baptist church, 
in the same street, of the modern Gothic; and the 
Eeformed Dutch church, a beautiful model of the 
Composite ; and the Church of the Holy Trinity, in 
Clinton-street, near by, probably the most costly edi- 
fice in the city, built of dark-colored freestone, in the 
pure Gothic style. Christ church, in South Brook- 
lyn, Grace church, on the Heights, and St. Anns, in 
Washington-street, are the other principal churches 
of the Protestant Episcopal denomination. The Ply- 
mouth church, (Congregational,) in Cranberry-street, 
is a plain but exceedingly commodious place of wor- 
ship, capable of seating more than two thousand per- 
sons. The Second Presbyterian church, on Clinton- 
street, near Pulton, is a noble Doric structure ; and 
the Eeformed Dutch church, near the City Hall, (be- 
longing to the oldest ecclesiastical body in Brooklyn,) 
is an almost perfect model of the pure Ionic, with 
colonnades at both its fronts. Besides these, there are 
many houses of worship, of various degrees of elegance 
and architectural embellishment, found in all parts 
of the city, and new ones are continually springing 
up to meet the demands of the rapidly-increasing 
population. 

^ 300. Williamsburgh. 

Directly to the eastward of New -York City, just 
across that part of the East Eiver which extends 
northwardly from Wallabout Bay, and immediately 



I 



290 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

to the north-east of Brooklyn, is the city of Williams- 
burgh. The site of that town was a portion of Bush- 
wick till the year 1840, when it was cut off and in- 
corporated as a distinct township. The growth of 
New -York, by which the city was brought to press 
hard down upon the East Kiver, opposite to the shore 
of Bushwick, had so much increased the importance 
of this locality, as to demand for it a separate and 
independent political organization. As early as 1817 
a ferry was established from that shore to New -York, 
but it was not till ten years later that a village be- 
gan to show itself in this part. Within the past 
twenty years, however, its growth has been very great. 
In 1835 a new village charter was granted, enlarging 
somewhat its territory, and adapting the powers of 
the government to the increased magnitude of the 
place. By this charter the affairs of this rapidly-grow- 
ing village were conducted for sixteen years, till, in 
1851, it passed out of its minority, and assumed the 
title of a city. 

Among the principal causes of the rapid growth of 
this suburb has been the superior system of ferriage 
established between it and New -York. From Grand- 
street, Houston-street, and Peck-slip, in New -York, 
large, safe, and commodious steam ferry-boats run at 
very short intervals ; so that a residence in this suburb 
is but little, if at all, less convenient of access to the 
business of New-York than it would be were the city 
of Williamsburgh a portion of Manhattan Island. 
In 1850 its population was a little more than thirty- 
six thousand. 

The plan of Williamsburgh is laid out on a scale 
corresponding to the manifest destiny of the place to 



M 



ENVIRONS OF NEW-YORK. 291 

become a great city. The whole ground-plot is brought 
into a common S3'stem of streets and avenues. Begin- 
ning at the water-side, streets running parallel with 
the shore, and with each other, extend from soutli- 
west to north-east across the entire township. Across 
these, running back into the country, is the great 
leading avenue, called Grand-street. On either side 
of this are other streets parallel with it, cutting the 
streets that rtift along the river nearly at right angles. 
But the plan of the city is not forced into a perfect 
system of rectangular blocks, but conformed, in some 
degree, to the ground-plot, and adapted to the natural 
currents of travel, thus securing at once an agreeable 
variety, and much greater convenience than could be 
obtained by a more rigid exactness. 

Williamsburgh is almost exclusively a city of res- 
idences. Along the water-side are several large ship- 
yards, and there are also in different parts a number 
of very considerable manufacturing establishments. 
But much the greater portion of its population are 
engaged in business connected with the city of New- 
York. There are no public buildings of any import- 
ance in the city except its churches, and none of these 
are such as to require any special notice. The houses 
of the residents are generally well built and commo- 
dious, and some of them elegant, though, for the most 
part, the population consists of the sterling middle 
classes. The rapid progress that this outpost of New- 
York is making will doubtless demand for it much 
attention in the future annals of the great metropolis. 

13*' 






292 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 301. Villages on Manhattan Island. 

On tlie upper part of the island, in the Twelfth- 
ward of the city of New -York, are several villages 
that properly belong to the environs of the city. Of 
these, Harlem, situated at the head of the Third- 
avenue, about eight miles from the City Hall, and 
near the junction of the Harlem with the East 
Eiver, is the oldest and most considerable. Its foun- 
dation dates back to the earliest days of the settle- 
ment of this island, when a number of Dutch families 
established themselves in this place, and gave to it 
the name of one of the cities of their own loved 
Netherlands. Though a very old settlement, Harlem 
has advanced but slowly, and is still only an incon- 
siderable settlement, and with but very few of the ap- 
pliances necessary to give it a vigorous vitality. 

Two miles below Harlem, on the same avenue, is 
Yorkville, a straggling village of no great import- 
ance. On the west side of the island, nearly due west 
from Harlem, is Manhattan ville, another suburban 
village, which is also increased and strengthened by 
its manufactories. A mile and a half farther down, 
on the west side of the island, was formerly the ancient 
village of Bloomingdale, now broken up by the ap- 
proach of the city proper ; and a mile lower was 
Chelsea, now completely lost in the capacious mass 
of the great metropolis. None of these rural locali- 
ties of New -York possess any great interest as inde- 
pendent villages. 



J 



ENVIRONS OF NEW-YORK. 293 

§ 302. West shore of the Hudson. 

Beyond the Hudson River the growth of New -York 
is beginning to he decidedly felt. Jersey City, occu- 
pying the ground-plot of Paulus Hook, and extending 
to the ancient colonies of Pavonia and Communipaw, 
has sprung up within a few ^^ears, and is now an in- 
corporated city, and is increasing at the usual rate of 
New -York progress. To the north of this, along the 
hills of Bergen, is Hoboken, long celebrated as a 
suburban pleasure-ground, but now becoming a thick- 
ly settled embryo city. Beyond this is Weehawken, 
chiefly celebrated as the scene of the slaughter of 
Alexander Hamilton, by which sad event a glorious 
career was terminated ingloriously, and a most valu- 
able son of New -York sacrificed to the bloody code 
of honor, by the hands of one who was never worthy 
of his attention. Still farther upward are Fort Lee, — 
now becoming a considerable settlement, — and the be- 
ginning of the Palisades, whose admantine walls and 
towers alone resist the rushing changes that come on 
with the floods of growing years. Toward the south, 
Elizabethtown is growing into importance, by reason 
of its proxmity to New -York; and Newark, by the 
same influence, is quickening its pace toward great- 
ness ; and even New-Brunswick feels the influence of 
the growing tide of prosperity that has its fountain 
in the Empire Cit}^ Staten Island is, to a great de- 
gree, an outpost of New -York ; but as it is chiefly oc- 
cupied by the quarantine establishments, and several 
marine asylums and hospitals, its growth in wealth 
and population has not k&pt pace with other places 
equally contiguous to the city. 



i 



294 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

^ 303. Fortifications about New -York. 

In enumerating the objects of interest about the 
city of New -York, its fortifications and means of de- 
fense should not be omitted. All the approaches to 
the city from without are strongly defended. At the 
Narrows is Fort Hamilton, on Long Island, covering 
Fort Lafayette, which is built on a reef two hundred 
yards from the shore. Both of these are large and in- 
vulnerable fortresses, fully armed for effective service. 
Upon Staten Island are Forts Tompkins and Eichmond, 
the former situated on the high grounds of the island, 
and the latter at the water-side below it. In the in- 
terior harbor, Governor's, Ellis's, and Bedlow's Islands, 
are all strongly fortified. Of the first-named, the 
north-west angle is occupied by Castle Williams, a 
large circular battery, which is connected by a sub- 
terranean passage with Fort Columbus, in the center 
of the island. Another battery also guards Butter- 
milk Channel, which separates this from Long Island. 
The Navy-yard presents a strong point of defense on 
that side of the city, as well as serving as the de- 
pository of a moveable defense for every other part. 
At the eastern extremity of the East Kiver, twelve 
miles beyond the southern point of the city, is 
Fort Schuyler, on Throggs Neck, guarding the en- 
trance to the harbor in that direction. With these 
defenses, it is believed that New -York is as effectu- 
ally protected against the approach of an invading 
force as is compatible with the present state of the 
arts of attack and defense. 






ENVIRONS OF NEW-YORK, 295 

§ 304, Cemeteries. 

Any survey of the environs of New -York that should 
not notice its cemeteries would be essentially defec- 
tive. These, however, are all of recent date, the old- 
est being but little more than ten years old ; they 
may therefore be considered as yet in their infancy. 
Previous to their existence the disposal of the remains 
of the departed was a matter of much embarrassment, 
and the cause of painful solicitude. Many of the 
churches had burial-places connected with them, and 
often spacious vaults were excavated under them for 
the reception of the dead. Attached to Trinity church 
was a spacious burying-ground, in which several gen- 
erations of the principal inhabitants were interred ; 
another of like character was attached to 3t. Paul's 
chapel. These two cemeteries, though located where 
the price of ground is enormously high, have been 
preserved inviolate against all the onsets and allure- 
ments of the divinity of trade. Not so, however, with 
the other burial-places that during all the stages of 
the city's growth, till within the last forty years, 
fringed the outskirts of the city. These have suc- 
cessively yielded to the advancing tide of the city's 
growth, and have either been dug down and their 
bones sunken in deep pits, or, where the grade favored, 
the surface was overlaid with earth, and the dwellings 
of the living erected over the resting-place of the dead. 
These things were long endured as of necessity, till 
the establishment of rural cemeteries, at a distance 
from the city, gave the wished-for relief 



296 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

^ 305. Greenwood — its location and extent. 

Among these rural cenieteries Greenwood is much 
the most considerable. It is located at the extreme 
southern part of the corporate limits of Brooklyn, on 
Gowanus Heights, nearly three miles from the Fulton 
Ferry. These grounds lie on the route traversed by 
the British army when approaching New -York on the 
26th of August, 1776 ; and within the limits of this 
spot, now consecrated to the repose of the dead, oc- 
curred the principal conflict of that disastrous day. A 
high historical interest is thus united to the other at- 
traction of this scene. 

The whole area of this cemetery amounts to over 
three hundred acres, which is a much larger extent 
than is found in any similar establishment in either 
America or Europe. The various avenues already 
completed (exclusive of foot-paths) have an aggregate 
length of about fifteen miles. These wind in every 
direction through valleys and along hill-sides, skirt- 
ing the sylvan lakes, and leading through miniature 
groves of ancient forest-trees. The grounds are beau- 
tifully and almost endlessly diversified by nature, pre- 
senting an infinite variety of scenery, and distributing 
the whole area into hillocks and vales, dells, lawns, 
lakes, and glens. The more elevated parts afford 
many exceedingly interesting views. On the west, in 
full view, is New -York Bay, the most perfect land- 
and-water scene in the world ; toward the north rise 
the towers and domes of New -York and Brooklyn ; 
north-eastwardly the Sound, dotted with islands, is 
seen far in the distance ; while, to the east and south, 
lie the green fields and quiet villages of Long Island ; 
and beyond these the distant ocean. 



ENVIRONS OF NEW-YORK. 297 

§ 306. Greenwood — its history and progress. 

Greenwood Cemetery received its corporate existence 
by an act of the legislature of the State of New -York, 
dated April 18, 1838. Four years were occupied in 
the preliminary arrangements of the association; so 
that the grounds were not opened for interments till 
1842. Before fixing upon a site for their operations, 
the association made a careful and thorough survey 
of the entire vicinity of New -York, and fixed upon this 
as combining more real advantages than any other. 
The original purchase consisted of one hundred and 
seventy-five acres, which has been increased by sub- 
sequent purchases to its present extent. The entire 
area has been laid out into lots, and is traversed by 
streets and avenues, and, by a careful husbanding of 
the surplus waters, artificial lakes and reservoirs have 
been formed. Keepers' lodges and towers have been 
built ; two large receiving vaults, for the temporary 
deposit of the dead, have been constructed, and a very 
great number of private tombs and vaults. The com- 
pany has expended in regulating and ornamenting 
these grounds nearly half a million of dollars ; while 
the sums expended by individuals must be numbered 
by hundreds of thousands, or by millions. About 
three thousand eight hundred lots were sold previous 
to the 1st of May, 1850, at which time the aggregate of 
interments amounted to nine thousand seven hundred. 
Most of the lots have been inclosed by substantial iron 
fences, and upon the grave-stones and the fronts of 
tombs are many excellent specimens of sculpture and 
beautiful architectural embellishments. 



298 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

^ 307. Trinity Church Cemetery. 

On the high grounds of Manhattan Island, near the 
village of Manhattan ville, and upon the east hank of 
the Hudson, is the new cemetery of Trinity church. 
It reaches from One-hundred-and-fifty-third-street to 
One-hundred-and-fifty-fifth-street, and from the Tenth- 
avenue to the river. From this point may he had a 
commanding view of the Hudson Eiver, the Highlands, 
the Jersey shore, the cities of New-York, Brooklyn, 
and Williamshurgh, the East Eiver and Sound, and 
of Long Island. The grounds are covered with a fine 
growth of forest-trees, and beautifully laid out in 
walks and avenues, and ornamented with shrubbery 
and statuary. The whole is inclosed by a secure and 
durable fence. 

§ 308. Other rural cemeteries. 

Besides those already described, other cemeteries, 
based on the same general principles, have been estab- 
lished in various places in the vicinity of New -York. 
Rockland Cemetery, containing eighty acres, is located 
at Piermont, on the New -York and Erie Eailroad, 
about twenty miles from the city. New -York Bay 
Cemetery lies on the west side of the harbor, to the 
south of Jersey city, and is principally used by the 
various beneficiary societies of New -York and its 
vicinity, many of which have here places of interment. 
About three miles eastward from Brooklyn is the 
cemetery of the Cypress Hills ; and to the north of 
this, that of the Evergreens. These grounds have 
been but recently devoted to their new purposes. 
They embrace, jointly, about three hundred acres of 



ENVIRONS OF NEW-YORK. 299 

irregularly undulating hills and valleys, mostly cover- 
ed with a thick growth of evergreens, chiefly cedars. 
From some of the highest points of these grounds 
may also he obtained extensive views of the surround- 
ing regions. Comparatively little has yet been done 
toward the regulation of these cemeteries, nor is it 
intended that they shall ever rival Greenwood in 
splendor and magnificence — being designed for a less 
opulent portion of society than are those who bury 
their dead at the latter place. Thus the city of the 
living is hemmed in on all sides by the dwelling- 
places of the dead, where the ephemeral beings that 
for a little while swell the mass of the living city 
will soon lie down in these, their permanent and quiet 
resting-places. 



300 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

CHAPTEE XV. 

THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 
§ 309. Individuality of character. 

Some modern nations pride themselves upon their 
ability to trace their descent from some ancient trihes 
or people, whose name and deeds are found among 
the records of former times. Even some of the older 
States and cities in this republic are not altogether 
destitute of this ancestral vanity. New-England boasts 
of her Puritan fathers ; Virginia, of her gallant Cav- 
aliers ; Maryland, of her liberal-minded Eoman-Cath- 
olic founders ; and Pennsylvania, of her peaceful but 
liberty-loving Quaker ancestry. New -York might 
fearlessly enter the lists with these, and urge the 
claims of her Belgic ancestors to equal honors with 
any of them ; but another method of vindication is 
deemed at once more truthful, and better adapted to 
the intended purpose. The character of the people 
of New -York is not an imported or inherited one ; it 
is a home-production, developed from the assimilated 
elements out of which the present population has been 
derived. The distinct identity and the real excellence 
of this native character constitute the true glory of 
the people of our city. 

^ 310. Original elements. 

The orio'inal settlers of New-Netherland, it is well 
known, were chiefly natives of Holland ; and of course 
the settlement was originally a Dutch colony, having 
the manners and customs, the language and religion, 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 301 

and generally all the social institutions of the father- 
land. But from the beginning the Belgic basis of the 
people of New-Amsterdam was diluted and mixed 
w^ith many foreign ingredients. From the earliest 
times the colony was an asylum from religious perse- 
cution ; so that large numbers of refugees of almost 
every name and creed, both from Europe and the 
neighboring colonies, were attracted to that place. 
There were Jews and Anabaptists, Quakers and Sab- 
batarians, and, according to the statement of Gover- 
nor Dongan, " some of almost every belief, and most 
of none at all," all dwelling together in perfect equal- 
ity, and consequently in peace and good neighborhood. 
The zeal of the patroons to induce immigrants to settle 
within their several grants led them to offer liberal 
terms to settlers, and to disregard national distinc- 
tions and theological differences. It thus happened 
that these infantile settlements were often composed 
of the most diverse materials ; the only point of coin- 
cidence being that all should be householders, and 
loyal denizens of the colony. As, in the golden age 
of the commonwealth of Eome, to be a Eoman citizen 
was a sufficient title to all the immunities of the re- 
public, so in these primitive times every householder 
in New-Netherland enjoyed all the privileges of citi- 
zenship. This primary social element has given its 
impress to the whole body ; so that our entire social 
system is only a community of families. 

^ 311. The Walloons. 

At several times during the early period of the colo- 
nial existence of New-Nether land, there were very 
considerable accessions of aggregate bodies of immi- 



302 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

grants from portions of Europe other than Holland. 
Among the earliest of these were a body of Walloons, 
a fragment of an ancient race residing on the fron- 
tiers between France and Flanders, speaking the old 
Gallic language, and professing the Eeformed religion. 
During the famous " Thirty Years' War," they were 
distinguished for valor and indomitable prowess ; but 
the events of war, in which destiny rather than skill 
and might seems to prevail, were against them. De- 
termining, therefore, to preserve their liberties, though 
at the expense of their country, they turned their eyes 
toward America. They sought to be admitted, with 
their social and civil institutions, to the colony of Vir- 
ginia ; but their request was promptly denied. Turned 
aside from that purpose, they came, about the year 
1624, to seek an asylum among their kindred at New- 
Netherland, and were permitted to locate themselves 
in a body at the Wallabout, ( Wahle bocht,) or " Bay 
of the Strangers," so called from themselves, on Long 
Island, and within the present corporate limits of the 
city of Brooklyn. Another portion of them passed up 
the Hudson, and established themselves at the colony 
of Esopus. Thus a new, though not altogether a 
foreign element was introduced into the colonial pop- 
ulation. 

^ 312. Refugees from New-England. 

About the year 1642 a colony of the English race 
came from New-England, and planted themselves be- 
side and among their Belgic predecessors on the north- 
ern shore of Long Island Sound, and within the ac- 
knowledged limits of the Dutch possessions. These 
were a band of religionists who had followed the Pil- 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 303 

grim train to America, but \fQYQ now compelled, on 
account of the intolerance of the ruling powers of 
New-England, and their own pertinacious nonconfor- 
mity, to remove beyond the rigorous dominion of the 
Puritans, and seek a refuge under a less exacting 
government. They accordingly requested the privi- 
lege to settle within the limits of New-Netherland, 
and were permitted to do so, having lands assigned 
them for their habitation, and the privileges of a free 
manor, and the unmolested exercise of their religion 
guarantied to them. Soon after, the little colony was 
strengthened by the arrival of Throggraorton and his 
associates, who had been expelled from Massachusetts 
with Koger Williams, and who now came with thirty- 
five families, and were located at the place ever since 
called, from the name of the leader of this exiled band, 
Throgg's Neck. 

In the same year the Lady Moody, with her minor 
son, Sir Henry, and many followers, fleeing from New- 
England for the same cause, came to New-Netherland 
and planted the town of Gravezande (Gravesend) on 
Long Island. They were soon followed by a large 
number of New-England families, to whom lands were 
granted upon their enrolling themselves liegemen of 
the province. So completely did these Anglo-Saxon 
immigrants become assimilated to the common char- 
acter, that many of them are now recognized as the 
principal Dutch families found in that neighborhood. 
But this assimilation was not effected at once, nor was 
the Anglo-Saxon element thus introduced ever en- 
tirely lost. The influx of English settlers led, at this 
early period, to a public recognition of the English 
language, and to other appropriate modifications of 



304 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

the public admmistratTon. In pursuance of this lib- 
eral policy, and with the avowed design '' to prevent 
the disturbance of harmony and social intercourse by. 
the incoming of so many strangers to reside here,'' 
the director-general appointed one of these immi- 
grants English Secretary to the Council of New- 
Netherland. 

^ 313. Swedes and Finns from the Delaware. 

The conquest of the Swedish colony on the Dela- 
ware, in 1665, by Governor Stuyvesant, led to the 
transfer of a large portion of the inhabitants of that 
colony to the banks of the Hudson. As after the con- 
quest some of the Swedes refused to swear allegiance 
to their conquerors, the valorous Stuyvesant " picked 
out the flower of the Swedish troops, and sent them, 
with some of the principal inhabitants, to Manhattan." 
A part of these were permitted to remain in the city, 
and the rest sent to the Walloons' colon}'- at Esopus. 
These Scandinavians brought with them the Lutheran 
faith and worship, which had been hitherto unknown 
in the colony ; and although their language was soon 
lost, and even their family names accommodated to 
the more favored dialects, these Swedish families can 
still be traced among us, and they plainly demonstrate 
that the contribution thus made to the population of 
the colony was far from being an unimportant one. 

§ 314. Effects of the English conquest. 

The conquest of the entire colony of New-Nether- 
land by the English, in 1668, necessarily made great 
changes in the condition, and ultimately in the char- 
acter, of the people. It is supposed that at that time 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 305 

nearly one-half of tlie wliole population was of British 
extraction ; and though Dutch manners generally pre- 
vailed, yet were these greatly modified hy so large an 
admixture of strangers. With the new government, 
English manners as well as English laws came into 
favor. The language of the dominant nation, already 
spoken by one-half of the people, was made the me- 
dium of communication in all public affairs, and was 
therefore cultivated by all who aspired to either its 
advantages or its respectability. A very considerable 
influx of English people followed immediately after 
the setting up of the new order of things, some of 
them as actual settlers, and others as public function- 
aries, or as their retainers and servants. Many of 
these likewise remained permanently in the province, 
and were by degrees incorporated among the mass of 
the population. 

§ 315. The Huguenots, 

Toward the close of the seventeenth century a large 
number of French Protestants, driven from their own 
country by the murderous persecution that followed 
the revocation of the edict of Nantes, sought a refuge 
in the province of New -York. These wretched victims 
of treachery and intolerance were cordially welcomed 
to this asylum of the persecuted, where they settled 
and became established as denizens. Thus a new an^ 
very considerable element was brought into the social 
body. It should not be forgotten that, though these 
refugees from persecution were Erenchmen, they were 
a very different class of people from those whom we 
now recognize as just specimens of that frivolous and 
volatile nation. They were eminently a sober and 



306 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

religious people ; and more than this, they were mar- 
tyrs for religious liberty; and of course they brought 
with them their characteristic earnestness in matters 
of faith and duty. As to secular affairs, they were 
skillful artisans, industrious and temperate in their 
habits of life, and devotedly attached to their homes 
and families. Such persons could not be otherwise 
than highly valuable accessions to any social and civil 
community, and especially to such as was New-York at 
that period. Some of these settled in New -York, and 
others in different places in the province, where they 
soon became quite amalgamated with the common 
mass, and by their own habits and examples contrib- 
uted much to the improvement of the social charac- 
ter of the people. 

§ 316. German and Irish refugees. 

A few years later, (in 1710,) some three thousand 
Germans, who had been driven by the storm of w^ar 
out of the Palatinate and had taken refuge in En- 
gland, were sent out by the British government to 
New -York. These were both political and religious 
exiles, and of course they brought with them the pe- 
culiarities of opinion that had caused their sufferings; 
and as men usually cherish their sentiments most 
when they are maintained at greatest expense, these 
exiles were zealous advocates of political and religious 
liberty. These people were settled along the Hudson 
and in the fertile valley of the Mohawk ; and after- 
ward many of them came to dwell in the city, and 
thus cast another element into the motley mass. 

About this time tlie effects of the English revolu- 
tion, and especially the defeat of the Pretender in 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 307 

Ireland, caused a large emigration of the partisans of 
the vanquished Stuarts to America. These were from 
all of the three kingdoms, English, Scotch, and Irish, 
and generally of a somewhat elevated social grade. 
These, despairing of the cause of their legitimate 
prince, came now to spend their days in quiet in this 
universal city of refuge, where their dislike of the 
ruling dynasty of Great Britain transformed them 
into violent friends of individual freedom. 

^ 317. State of the population in 1700. 

At the heginning of the eighteenth century, the 
population of New -York city amounted to ahout five 
thousand, made up, as has been shown, of the most 
heterogeneous materials. Of these, tlie original Dutch 
was still the largest body, although much inferior to 
the aggregate of all the others. The American Dutch- 
man, too, had become, through a variety of causes, a 
very different kind of person from his European pro- 
totype. The next largest class was the motley group 
of natives of the British Islands, and their descendants 
born in the province ; a class united only by a com- 
munity of language, and of relations to the govern- 
ment. Next to these in numbers, and resembling 
them in many particulars, although distinguished by 
clearly-marked traits of character, were the immi- 
grants from the neighboring colonies. Among these 
were Puritans and separatists from theocratic New- 
England, those laying aside their exacting intolerance, 
and these their obtrusive nonconformity ; reduced Cav- 
aliers and emancipated apprentices from Virginia, for- 
getting here the artificial barriers that had formerly 
separated them ; with Quakers from Pennsylvania and 

14 



308 CITY OF jN^EW-YORK. 

New-Jersey, and refugee servants from the West In- 
dies. All these, with the Walloons, Huguenots, and 
Palatinates, made up the grotesque mass of our an- 
cestral population one hundred and fifty years ago. 
Thus huddled together, they were rather the elements 
out of which society was to be made, than a properly- 
consolidated social body. 

§ 318. The colored population. 

But of the five thousand persons found in the city 
of New -York at that time, not less than a full sixth 
part were of a race not yet spoken of. More than 
eight hundred of them were negroes, originally intro- 
duced as slaves, and most of them still held in that 
degraded condition. The great disparity of physical 
character between them and the whites, as well as 
their social and personal degradation as a class, fixed 
an impassable gulf between them and the other classes 
of the community. They accordingly constituted a 
distinct caste in society, and have consequently re- 
mained a foreign mass in the social body, quite inca- 
pable of assimilating with it. Within the last half- 
century the relative proportion of this class of the 
population has declined more than one half; and al- 
though they have long since ceased to be slaves, and 
many of them have received the rudiments of a plain 
education, they are still a wholly-distinct and an out- 
cast class in the community. 

§ 319. Social condition. 

Among such an aggregation of the crude elements 
of a population, the local manners and national preju- 
dices of each class would necessarily be kept sonie- 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 309 

what under restraint. No one class had so great a 
preponderance as to be able to assimilate all the rest 
to its own character; nor were the various elements 
of character found among the several classes such as 
could be harmonized into a consistent unity. The 
necessity of some common medium of communication, 
aided by the unrestrained intercourse of all classes 
and nationalities, led, by slow degrees, to the exclu- 
sive use of the language of the rulers and the ruling 
race. These circumstances have given to New -York 
a purer English dialect than can be found in most 
places where the English language is spoken ; while 
the few provincialisms that are mingled with it, by 
their peculiarities, clearly indicate the independent 
origin of the prevailing forms of speech. In like 
manner the prevailing customs and usages of the 
people were such as sprung up among themselves. 

The colonists of New-Netherland, and the immi- 
grants to provincial New -York, came to the banks of 
the Hudson, not to propagate a theory of government, 
nor to realize a scheme of ecclesiastical optimism. 
Most of them came as individuals and heads of fami- 
lies, seeking for a quiet retreat from political oppres- 
sion and religious persecution ; and of course they 
were much more intent on enjoying the sweets of do- 
mestic tranquillity than on establishing a hierarchy, 
or founding a commonwealth. We accordingly find 
the early inhabitants of the province dwelling together 
as groups of families rather than as a closely-com- 
pacted community. Driven by oppression from the 
lands of their nativities, they had learned to love the 
home of their exile more than the places that gave 
them birth, and to cherish a fraternal interest in their 



310 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

companions in sorrow and consolation, and so uncon- 
sciously to assume their habits and manners. Still, 
there were differences enough to forbid a very close 
intimacy, so that each one was compelled to seek his 
chief enjoyments in his own household. Here lay the 
strength, and from this source originated that sym- 
metry of character that is the honest boast of the 
genuine New-Yorker. At the same time a commu- 
nity of wants and interests united these individuals 
in common feelings and efforts, and thus elicited an 
enlarged public spirit, and at length an exalted pa- 
triotism. 

§ 320. Religious liberty. 

The practice of freely tolerating all Protestant 
sects of Christians was coeval with the history of the 
city and province of New -York. The planting of the 
colony was not originally a religious, but a commer- 
cial enterprise. The first settlers brought with them 
the prevailing religious notions of the Low Countries, 
not wholly excluding the intolerance that disgraces 
the ecclesiastical annals of Holland. But the mer- 
chants of Amsterdam were more careful as to their 
profits than for the maintenance of a forced orthodoxy ; 
and, as in their own city free toleration prevailed, so 
they determined it should be in New- Amsterdam, in 
America. Accordingly, here the persecuted non-con- 
formists of almost every country of Europe sought and 
found an asylum, and " freedom to worship God." 
Here the Calvinist and the Lutheran sat down to- 
gether and enjoyed equal privileges. Here the arro- 
gant Episcopalian and the stubborn Presbyterian were 
compelled to refrain from annoying each other. Here 
Anabaptists and Quakers, left to enjoy their own 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 311 

fancies, ceased to be fanatical, and became rationally 
devout, and truly valuable members of society.* Here, 
too, even the forlorn Israelite, despised and persecuted 
in all nations, was permitted to set up his synagogue, 
and to worship God according to the ancient faith and 
ritual of his people. While yet the population of the 
city amounted to less than ten thousand, there were 
ten different places of public worship, belonging to and 
occupied by an equal number of distinct sects, each 
having its own creed and formulary. By thus living 
together on terms of equality, the members of these 
discordant sects learned lessons of mutual forbear- 
ance, and by degrees substituted a genial charity for 
the violence of religious partisanship. 

It is not to be concealed that during the entire 
colonial period of the history of New -York the Eomish 
faith was proscribed, and its worship disallowed. 
But this was a matter of political rather than of re- 
ligious policy. The Church of Eome was a great 
and formidable political power, endeavoring, by all 
the machinations of its complicated but powerful 
agencies, to subvert every state and kingdom that 
would not yield to its demands. It was therefore 
in self-defense that the Protestant States of Europe 
arrayed themselves against the Papacy, and disallow- 
ed its emissaries, the priests, to dwell within their 
bounds. It was not, therefore, religious intolerance, 
but political vigilance, that shut the Papists out of 
New -York, until, under the influence of Protestant 
institutions, the political bod)^ became so thoroughly 
consolidated that it no longer had cause to fear the 
presence and power of those natural enemies of civil 
and religious liberty. 



312 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

§ 321* Social progress during the eighteenth century. 

During the greater part of that portion of the 
eighteenth century which preceded the war of the 
Eevolution, New -York remained, for the most part, 
in a very quiet and secluded condition. No consider- 
able accessions of immigrants occurred later than 
those already enumerated. The people dwelt quietly 
together in their habitations, and the population was 
augmented rather by the natural increase of families 
than by accessions from abroad. During the second 
quarter of that century the increase of numbers was 
less than one hundred a year, or about one per cent, 
annually ; a ratio less than the ordinary natural in- 
crease of families. For the ensuing twenty-five years 
the growth of population was much greater ; but the 
accessions were chiefly from other portions of the prov- 
ince, and so brought no new elements into the social 
body. By the operation of these causes the popula- 
tion of New -York, at the beginning of the revolution- 
ary struggle, was almost exclusively made up of 
natives of the province, whose ancestors also, for sev- 
eral generations, had been residents of the country. 
Thus, though descended from a variety of the families 
of Europe, the people of New -York had become con- 
solidated and assimilated, till the social body present- 
ed a very good degree of individuality of character 
and homogeneousness of structure. 

^ 322. The New -York character. 

The people of New -York, while bearing the com- 
mon features of the American character, have also cer- 
tain specific traits of mind, that sufldciently distinguish 



THE PEOPLE OP NEW-YORK. 313 

them as a well-defined variety of the common genus. 
Though these characteristics are less prominent and 
obtrusive than those of the New-Englander, or the 
Virginian, or the Kentuckian, they are not less real or 
worthy of attention. The influences among which the 
crude elements of the social mass were fused into a 
consistent body, at the same time determined the 
future character. Those determining influences orig- 
inated, for the most part, at the fire-side and in do- 
mestic life. Men who had come hither to escape the 
grasp of tyranny were satisfied to guard their own 
hearth-stones, to store their own garners, and to wor- 
ship God " under their own vine and fig-tree." A 
community educated among such influences, and train- 
ed to such habits, must be at once the most loyal sub- 
jects of good government, and the most formidable 
enemies to tyranny. This has ever been the case with 
the people of New -York. The most unlimited equal- 
ity of social and religious privileges is cheerfully con- 
ceded to all, while any encroachments upon individual 
liberty are jealously detected and fearlessly with- 
stood. 

The tendency of such a condition of society is espe- 
cially to develop the individual. Each citizen is a 
peer of the realm ; each household an inviolable strong- 
hold of freedom. The opinions and sentiments, the 
pleasures and devotions of each individual are all his 
own, with which the government has no right nor 
power to interfere ; and he fashions them according 
to his own convictions, tastes, or caprices. This indi- 
viduality is thus made the predominating condition, 
to which public opinion and the dicta of Church or 
State are made wholly secondary. The body politic 



314 CITY OF NEW -YORK. 

and social is thus made to rest on the divine institu- 
tion of the family, and the hearth-stone becomes the 
keystone of the commonwealth ; by which means the 
love of individual freedom is cherished, and every 
motive to invade the rights of others taken away. 

§ 323. Injluence of commerce. 

It is granted that the same tendencies which so 
effectually develop the individual character, if car- 
ried too far, will render the man rough and discourte- 
ous. It would perhaps he claiming too mucli for the 
people of New -York to say that this result has not 
in any degree been realized among them. But from 
the beginning this influence has been checked and 
modified by another of a contrary tendency. New- 
York has always been a seat of commerce, and its 
population a mercantile people. Commercial rela- 
tions are those of mutual dependence, which neces- 
sarily induce conciliatoriness, and tend even to cring- 
ing. Such a tendency is of course directl}^ opposed to 
that sturdy independence which is the fundamental 
element of character among our people ; a virtue 
whose excess may seem a fault. In itself that ten- 
dency is confessed to be an evil one, since it induces a 
sycophantic manner, and substitutes mercantile for 
moral considerations in the estimate of things. The 
influences of commerce are not friendly to a spirit of 
personal independence, and that true self-respect by 
Avhich a man esteems himself none the worse because 
he wants the accidents of wealth. Gain is the primary 
object of the mere merchant's aspirations, to which 
every other consideration must be sacrificed. With 
such a person even liberty has its price, and the de- 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW- YORK. 315 

mauds of morality and religion are less imperative 
than those of trade. These influences have no doubt 
somewhat affected the character of our people ; in some 
instances, and even among large classes, tending to 
reduce men to mere money-changers, and devotees of 
mammon ; but, in their more general operations, 
counter-working the excessive tendency of society to 
a stern and uncourtly independence of character and 
manners. Probably neither individual liberty nor 
good morals could be maintained in a purely-mer- 
cantile community; but the tendencies which, opera- 
ting alone, would be thus ruinous, may become avail- 
able for good in modifying opposite tendencies. These 
antagonistic influences have been called into efficient 
exercise among us, and, by their conflict, they have 
elicited a genuine independence of character, softened 
and subdued by social influences. 

^ 324. Infiuence of the state of learning. 

In scarcely any other of the American colonies were 
the interests of education so long and so generally 
neglected as in New -York. Founded and maintained 
for commercial purposes, New-Amsterdam, or New- 
York, was, during its whole colonial existence, very 
inadequately supplied with the facilities for public in- 
struction. Of necessity the native-born children grew 
up without learning ; and as, in the progress of things, 
almost the entire population became a native one, a 
wide-spread popular ignorance prevailed. This state 
of things, as might be presumed, did not fail to pro- 
duce a degeneracy of the public morals and- a degra- 
dation of the popular character. There was, indeed, 

always an educated class in the community, the salu- 

14* 



316 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

tary influence of whose presence may be easily recog- 
nized ; but they were too far removed from the masses, 
as to both their associations and their sympathies, to 
exert any great influence over them. The state of 
learning, of manners, and of morals, was not what 
it should have been, during the whole colonial his- 
tory of New -York. But these evils were not without 
their incidental benefits. For nearly three quarters 
of a century the little communities on the Hudson 
were left to consolidate their heterogeneous materials 
of thoughts and ideas, as well as of persons, in a state 
of almost complete isolation. Yery few and scanty 
contributions to their intellectual stores were derived 
from foreign sources. . A third generation, since the 
last general immigration, was born and reared among 
the homely scenes and home-born influences of these 
isolated settlements, and of course the whole commu- 
nity became consolidated into a proper unity of ideas 
and sentiments, action and character. AVhile thus 
separated from both the social and intellectual influ- 
ences of other people, the crude elements of our native 
population, by its internal fermentations, gave being 
to the New -York character. That character, enlight- 
ened and educated, is the same that is now the honest 
pride of the genuine New-Yorker. 






^ 325. Distinctive characteristics. 

Writers on America and the Americans have espe- 

Vcially distinguished two great classes of our popula- 
tion, the Puritanic and the Cavalier, or, the New-En- 
glanders and the Virginians ; and some have vainly 
attempted to reduce the whole American people to 
these two classes. Nor is it wonderful that superficial 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 817 

observers should reco2:nize these and overlook others. 
The real individuality of these characters is manifest ; 
they belong to numerous bodies, having a traditional 
celebrity, and the features that distinguish them are 
prominent and well-defined. Their very deformities 
render them more easy to be recognized, and their 
want of symmetry gives a distinctiveness to their in- 
dividuality. It is not strange, therefore, that the 
Puritan and Cavalier are recognized by some who fail 
to perceive or to identify the Knickerbocker. But a 
more careful and discriminating observation would 
not fail to discover that the inhabitants of the Empire 
City are not a mere mongrel race, without individu- 
ality of character and proper distinctive social traits. 
Though less sharply defined than some others, and 
too symmetrically formed to be distinguished by some 
prominent feature of character, as well as without the 
prestige of ancestral fame, the New -York character is 
not only a specific reality, but also, as such, it is marked 
by characteristics of which none need be ashamed. 

t<~^^ § 326. The Yankee and the Knickerbocker. 

Between the New-Englander and the New-Yorker — 
the Yankee and the Knickerbocker — there are clearly- 
marked differences of character, arising, doubtless, 
from facts and circumstances connected with the colo- 
nial history of each people. New-England was settled 
by organized bodies ; New -York by individuals. Com- 
munity of religious opinions and observances was the 
bond of union among the Puritan colonists ; so that 
opinion was legalized, and dissent or non-conformity 
became an ofi'ense. Thus individual opinion was 
merged into associated opinion, and the man appeared 



318 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

as a member of the associated body rather than as a 
complete and responsible individuality. How entirely 
different was the state of things in colonial New- York 
has been already shown, in connection with the natu- 
ral results of these influences. The effects of these 
original differences are now rendered imperishable by 
being incorporated into the provincialist traits of char- 
acter. In New-England the consolidation of society 
has, to a great degree, destroyed proper individuality 
and independence of character ; while in New -York the 
social mass is but an aggregation of persons, eac^.^, 
complete in his own individual integrity. 

The same causes have given form to the intellectual 
character of the two sub-nationalities. New-England 
enjoyed great intellectual advantages over her west- 
ern neighbors from the beginning of her existence ; 
nor has the rapid progress of the latter, during the 
present century, sufficed to overcome their relative 
disadvantages. The inhabitants of New-England are 
still a more learned people than those of New -York. 
But there is a plain difference between learning and 
education: and while we concede a superiority as to 
the former to our eastern neighbors, we question their 
title to even equality as to the latter. An accumu- 
lation of facts and ideas may be made under the re- 
straints of an artificial discipline, and with a stinted 
mental development ; but that education which justly 
forms the character requires that the mind shall be 
free in its exercise, and unconstrained in its processes 
and determinations. The tyranny of conventionalism 
has unquestionably operated unfavorably upon the New- 
England character, as compared with the breadth and 
freedom that distinguish that of the New -Yorker. 



THE PEOPLE OF NEW-YORK. 319 

^ 327. The New-Yorker and the Virginian. 

The character of the Virginian differs still more 
widely from that of the New-Yorker. The name by 
which that character is designated — Cavalier — suffi- 
ciently describes him. He is brave, haughty, and 
reckless. Such a character can be maintained only 
in an artificial and constrained state of society; and 
where it is found it must belong, not to the whole 
community, but only to a privileged class. Persons 
thus circumstantially elevated may be compelled to a 
kind of self-respect by their condition, but self-respect 
thus caused is not genuine. It is not in view of his own 
manhood that such an one is led to abhor whatever is 
low or base, but only in respect to his circumstances. 
Strip him of these accidents of family and kindred, of 
wealth and position, and the Cavalier is fallen. This 
habitual reliance on accidents is greatly unfriendly to 
individual development and personal elevation. These 
statements, as to both the facts and the theory of the 
case, are abundantly attested by the desolation that 
broods over the once fertile fields of the Old Dominion, 
as compared with the ever-increasing fertility of the Em- 
pire State ; and especially by the diminutiveness and di- 
lapidation of the chief sea-port town of the former, conorl 
pared with the thrift and progress of that of the latter, j 

The Virginian attains his social position and main- 
tains his character by means of his circumstances ; 
the New-Yorker accomplishes the same end by his 
own inherent energies, and, if necessary, in spite of 
his circumstances. Though favored by none of the 
accidents of life, he asserts his own manhood, and asks 
no other title to respectability, nor will he permit any 
man to become his patron. Respecting himself as a 



320 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

man, he cannot be mean, thougli lie may "be poor ; and 
recognizing the same manhood in others, he cannot 
be arrogant, however far above them in merely exter- 
nal things. 

-"■*" ^ 328. Assimilating power. 

Such are the people of New -York, the denizens of 
the Empire City and of the Empire State. They com- 
pose an illustrious sub-species of the great American 
family, instinct with energy, and gifted with an almost 
unlimited spirit of enterprise, and endowed with the 
most exalted attributes of humanity. A native race, 
derived from no ancestral prototype, and copying ser- 
vilely no exemplar, they must attain to a more glori- 
ous destiny than has yet been achieved among man- 
kind. The name assumed and conceded by common 
consent shall be abundantly justified alike in the mate- 
riel and the personnel of the Empire City. This native 
energy of the New -York character also displays itself 
in its power to assimilate other forms to itself. From 
whatever point the denizen of that city may have 
come, a residence, in New -York surely and speedily 
makes him a New-Yorker. The eastern, the south- 
ern, the western man soon loses his peculiarities, and 
becomes like his neighbors. The plastic Hibernian 
forgets that he is an exile ; and even the implastic 
Teutons insensibly yield to the impalpable but irre- 
sistible influences that surround them. Thus are our 
immigrant population transformed, in character as 
well as in political rights, into genuine Americans, 
and New -York energy acts as a solvent to fuse the 
motley masses~ih at Europe is pouring upon our shores 
into a consistent body of valuable and happy freemen. 



THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK. 321 



CHAPTEK XVI. 

THE FUTURE OF NEW- YORK. 
^ 329. Basis of estimate. 

The past and present are the only reliable interpret- 
ers of tlie future. By these alone would we attempt 
to estimate what, it may be presumed, will be realized 
in the coming events of the city of New -York. Its 
past career is suggestive of such estimates, and the 
effects produced by causes still in active operation 
carry the mind forward to the probabilities of the 
future. Nor need the whole of the past history of 
New -York be consulted in making calculations as to 
its future condition, but only that portion of it which 
has been governed by causes still in operation. New- 
York, as to its present character, and the causes of its 
prosperity, is only about a hundred years old. It was 
about the middle of the last century that its popu- 
lation assumed a proper unity and individuality of 
character ; and at the same time the course of busi- 
ness pursuits and the spirit of self-reliance that con- 
tinue to distinguish the place and the people became 
pretty fully settled. From that time the progress of 
the city has been steady and uniform, increasing in 
population and in its resources in a constant geomet- 
rical ratio. 

§ 330. Growth of the past century. 

In 1756 the population of the city had attained to 
about ten thousand. During the former portion of 
the eighteenth century the growth of the city had 



322 



CITY OF NEW-YORK. 



been very inconsiderable — even less than the usual 
natural increase of the population. From that time 
to the beginning of the revolutionary struggle the 
growth was much more rapid; so that in 1773 the 
number of the inhabitants was nearly twenty-two 
thousand. The war of course put an end to this pros- 
perity ; and though the return of peace restored a 
large portion of the refugee families, and also made 
large additions to their numbers, yet, in 1786, there 
were only two thousand more than there were thirteen 
years before. When the first federal census was taken, 
in 1790, the population of the city was found to be a 
little over thirty-three thousand. The subsequent 
growth of the city is shown in the following table : — 



Years. 


Population. 


Increase. 


Rate of Increase. 


1790 


33,131 

60,489 






1800 


27,358 


82.54 per cent. 


1810 


96,373 


35,884 


59.65 


1820 


123,706 


27,333 


28.63 " 


1830 


202,589 


78,883 


63.68 


1810 


312,852 


110,263 


54.42 


1850 


515,507 


203,655 


65.09 



§ 331. Ratio of increase. 

By examining the above table it will be seen that 
the average rate of increase, for each term of ten years, 
was not far from sixty per cent. This rate of increase, 
however, has varied very considerably from a strict 
uniformity at different times ; some of which varia- 
tions may be easily referred to obvious accidental 
causes, others may require a more careful scrutiny. 
Immediately after the war of the Kevolution, New- 
York was looked to as the natural and prospective 
seat of the new national government. Toward this 



THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK. 323 

place, therefore, all eyes were turned, and in antici- 
pation of its future glory, as the prospective federal 
city, many made it the place of their residence. There, 
too, the newly-awakened commercial interest of the 
country soon began to concentrate, and thence to send 
out its fleets to all parts of the world. The demand 
for the mechanic arts was thus increased, and a greater 
number of artisans employed, by which means the pop- 
ulation was still further augmented. By the opera- 
tion of these causes the number of inhabitants, which 
at the end of the war did not exceed twenty thousand, 
in 1800 had grown to sixty thousand. The next pe- 
riod of ten years was one of unabated increase, though 
th^ relative augmentation was not so considerable. 

The decade extending from 1810 to 1820 shows a 
relative increase of less than one-half of the common 
ratio ; but the cause of this is obvious. Por a great 
part of that period the commerce of the city was al- 
most completely annihilated by the operation of po- 
litical causes. For about three years the country was 
engaged in a war with Great Britain, which so disas- 
trously aflPected the business of New -York, that instead 
of the usual increase there was an actual diminution 
of inhabitants. ; The accelerated rate of increase dur- 
ing the last ten years may require a fuller discussion 
in another place. 

The increase indicated in the table fails ade- 
quately to set forth the real progress of the city dur- 
ing the last twenty years. Until about the beginning 
of that period the aggregation of people and dwell- 
ings, that make up the real city of New -York, was 
wholly contained within the limits of its municipal 
territory. But since that time the city has overflowed 



324 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

those limits, so that the political city is not identical 
with the real one. Brooklyn and Williamsburgh are, 
to all practical purposes, and by their common rela- 
tion to its individuality, integral portions of the city 
of New -York. In 1830 the aggregate population of 
these two villages was a little more than sixteen thou- 
sand ; in 1840 it had increased to forty-one thousand; 
and in 1850 there were found over one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand. If then these places, now grown 
to he large cities, he reckoned, as they really are, por- 
tions of New -York, its increase, especially during the 
last decade, will he very considerably augmented, and 
the ratio, as compared with the population ten years 
before, will be almost two to one. 

§ 332. Ratio for the future. 

It would be an easy task for a mere school-boy to 
estimate what will be the growth of the city, if it may 
be presumed that the same rate of progress that has 
continued with a good degree of uniformity for sixty 
years, will be maintained for the remaining portion 
of the present century. The whole matter may be 
readily reduced to the form of a mathematical propo- 
sition. Eeckoning the population of the city in 1790 
at thirty-three thousand, and dividing the period from 
that time to 1895 into portions of fifteen years each, 
and allowing the increase for each of these portions 
to be binary, we have a regular geometrical series of 
seven terms — of which four are already past, anu 
three yet to come. Those already past conform with 
remarkable exactness to the requirements of the prop- 
osition ; but those to come would carry the calculation 
into a region quite beyond the imaginings of the most 



THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK. 



325 



sanguine. As a matter of curiosity, and to indicate 
the tendency of things, the whole matter is spread out 
in the annexed tahle : — 



Years. 


Terms. 


Actual 
numbers. 


Brookl^ and 
Williamsburgh. 


1790 
1805 
1820 
1835 
1850 
1865 
1880 
1895 


33,000 

66,000 

132,000 

264,000 

528,000 

1,056,000 

2,112,000 

4,224,000 


33,131 

75,570 

123,706 

270,089 

515,507 








est. 27,627 
127,627 















§ 333. Accidental modifications. 

In the ahove tahle eight different periods, with the 
population at each, are presented ; there are, however, 
but seven terms of increase given. Of these four are 
already past, and we have their results. The first 
slightly exceeded the assumed ratio ; the second fell 
short by a few thousands, though it covered the dis- 
astrous period of the embargo and the war with Great 
Britain ; the third goes over the assumed ratio, but falls 
so nearly into it as to require very little qualification ; 
the fourth, ending in 1850, if only the city of New- 
York, according to its political limits, is included, falls 
a little below it, but if Brooklyn and Williamsburgh 
are included, and all other real suburbs rejected, the 
excess is seen to be nearly a hundred thousand, and 
the actual ratio of increase nearly a hundred per cent, 
for the ten years. Following the same rule of increase 
into the future, in 1865 we shall have over a million; 
in 1880, two millions ; and in 1900, over five millions. 
To expect the realization of all this, would perhaps 
seem over-sanguine ; the same, too, would have been 



326 



CITY OF NEW-YORK. 



said, if, sixty years since, any one had predicted that 
which we now record as history. In reckonings of 
this chai'acter we are compelled to disregard prece- 
dents and analogies, for the past affords none that can 
be properly applied to the case ; and to venture forth 
into the unexplored sea of uncertainty, and timidly to 
follow whither the linger of destiny seems to point out 
the way. 

§ 334. Ratio of the city to the State and nation. 

In the next table will be found a statement and 
comparative view of the increase of the population of 
the city of New -York, the State of New -York, and of 
the United States, from 1790 to 1850, which, if it 
fails to throw any light upon the future, may at least 
serve as the basis of an amusing conjecture. 





Population 


Population 


Population 


Ratio 


Ratio 


Years. 


of the 


of 


of 


of 


of City to 




United States. 


New- York State. 


New- York city. 


City to State. 


U. States. 


1790 


3,929,827 


341,120 


33,131 


.0921 


.0084 


1800 


5,305,941 


586,756 


60,489 


.1030 


.0114 


1810 


7.239,814 


959,049 


96,373 


.1005 


.0133 


1820 


9,638,191 


1,372,812 


123,706 


.0901 


.0129 


1830 


12,866,020 


1,913,006 


202,589 


.1059 


.0158 


1840 


17,069,453 


2,428,921 


312,852 


.1281 


.0183 


1850 


23,218,199 


3,097,095 


515,507 


.1665 


.0222 



From this table it appears that the ratio of the pop- 
ulation of this city, as compared with that of the State, 
and still more as compared with that of the whole 
United States, has rapidly increased, especially during 
the last twenty years. In 1790 the ratio of city to 
State was as one to eleven, and in 1820 it was even 
below that point ; but in 1850 it had advanced to i\\i 
ratio of one to six — nearly doubling the former ratio. 
And as compared with the population of the entire 



THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK. 327 

nation in 1790, New -York had, of every ten thousand 
inhabitants in the United States, eighty-four; in 1820, 
one hundred and twenty-nine ; and in 1850, two hun- 
dred and twenty-two. 

The rate of increase of the population of the United 
States has been pretty uniformly thirty- three and a 
third per cent, for each term of ten years. If, then, 
we continue this for fifty years yet to come, reckon- 
ing the population of 1850 at twenty-three millions, 
and rejecting all odd thousands, we have, for 1860, 
thirty millions ; for 1870, forty millions ; for 1880, 
fifty-three millions ; for 1890, seventy millions ; and 
for 1900, ninety- three millions. At this last date, we 
have seen that, according to its usual rate of prog- 
ress, the city of New -York will contain a population 
of five millions, or about one-nineteenth part of the 
whole nation ; while in 1790 the ratio was only about 
one to one hundred and twenty, and in 1850 one to 
forty-five — or, if the suburbs of New -York be includ- 
ed as part of the city, as one to thirty-six. 

As to the probability that anything like this calcu- 
lation will be realized, we say nothing at present — 
only that these reckonings at this time appear no 
more improbable, to the common observer, than fifty 
years since would have been the anticipation of what 
has actually transpired since that time, and also that 
the ratio of growth has actually increased instead of 
diminished as the city has become enlarged. It must 
also be remembered that in this reckoning no account 
is made of the growth of the vast suburbs of New- 
York into which, during the ten years ending in 1850, 
that city sent out not less than a hundred thousand 
inhabitants. If these were included, the ratio of the 



328 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

city to the whole country would be very considerably 
increased. 

§ 335. Growth of cities. 

It is to be noticed that the growth anticipated in this 
calculation is not only unprecedented in rapidity, but 
also in extent. There are no such cities in the world 
as New -York will soon be, according to this reckoning, 
— and especially there are none in America or Europe 
that approach anywhere near to such a magnitude. 
The question then arises very naturally whether there 
is not a point of maturity for cities, as well as for most 
other things, beyond which they may not be expected 
to advance ? It might be difficult to affirm that there 
is not such a point ; but it would be quite as much so 
to prove that there is, and till that is done the question 
avails nothing as an objection. The progress of things 
in this country has always overrun precedents, both 
in the rapidity of their growth and the vastness of 
their attainments. A great change has occurred in 
the civilized world within the last hundred years, and 
the developments of things are all on a greatly en- 
larged scale. The old cities of Europe, as London 
and Paris, are now growing more rapidly than ever 
before, and certainly show very little to prove the 
theory of maturity in metropolitan stature. The 
changed condition of the civilized, and especially the 
commercial world, requires larger cities than have for- 
merly existed. With the increase of material wealth, 
and the consequent growth of the useful and fine arts, 
an increased proportion of the population of a country 
becomes urban — a change that is evidently going for- 
ward in this country. In a rude state of society nearly 



THE FUTURE OE NEW-YORK. 329 

all the industry is occupied in producing the raw ma- 
terials of subsistence, and of course nearly all the 
working population — which in such a state of society 
includes almost all who are able to work — reside 
in the open country, where these pursuits may be 
prosecuted. But as wealth and luxury increase, the 
number of citizens, as distinguished from rustics, is 
multiplied, and a relatively less number of the opera- 
tives of the country are engaged in rural occupations. 
The rich and luxurious generally congregate in and 
about great cities; and thither are also drawn the 
ministers of their pleasure, who constitute the great 
body, not only of player and parasites, but also of 
fancy artisans and fashionable shopkeepers. By the 
operation of these causes the growth of cities will al- 
ways correspond, in a good degree, to the wealth of 
the countries in which they are situated. 

^ 336. Population the basis of estimate. 

In the above calculation population alone has been 
considered as the measure of the growth and magni- 
tude of the city. This has been done chiefly for two 
reasons — it is more definite than any other that can 
be assumed, and it is the standard commonly used in 
estimating such things. It is granted that it is not 
always rigidly correct, though probably no other stand- 
ard could be chosen that would be liable to so few ob- 
jections. We the more willingly use it in this case, 
because it is believed that any other element of the 
city's growth would show even a greater increase than 
this, and we desire to employ the most moderate cal- 
culations in our estimates. It is generally believed 
that the increase of capital during the last fifteen 



330 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

years has been in a much greater ratio than that of 
population ; that while the aggregate of the latter 
has only a little more than doubled, that of the for- 
mer has nearly quadrupled. The statistics of trade, 
of banking, of production, and of consumption, all in- 
dicate a great relative increase of the wealth of the 
city over its population ; while the style of living, of 
architecture, and of equipage, all indicate the rapid 
growth of the substantial wealth of the entire popu- 
lation. Such is the advanced state of society in this 
particular, that the statistics plainly prove that could 
New -York be saved from the care of imported pau- 
pers she would very soon have none at all to provide 
for. 

§ 337. Concentration of trade. 

The prosperity of New -York has always depended 
chiefly upon its commerce. It has indeed other sour- 
ces of prosperity, in its manufactures, its buildings 
giving constant occupation to a great number of arti- 
sans and laborers, its schools, its public institutions 
and private residences ; but these are only incidental, 
while commerce is the source of life and activity to the 
whole. This commerce is both foreign and domestic ; 
penetrating by the latter to every village and neigh- 
borhood in the whole country, and reaching by the 
former to every portion of the habitable world.j' The 
commerce of western Europe and America has in- 
creased very greatly during the past half-century, 
and is still advancing with even accelerated rapidity. 
It is constantly opening new fields for its own enter- 
prise as well as greatly enlarging those already occu- 
pied. Its facilities have been almost immeasurably in- 
creased by the use of steam in navigation and on rail- 



THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK. 331 

roads. The most remote regions of the earth, are now 
as accessible as were, fifty years since, the nearest trans- 
marine countries; and the chief cities of Europe are 
now visited from New -York with less difficulty than, 
fifty years ago, a journey was made to one of the near- 
est of our Atlantic cities. As a result of this facility 
of traveling and transportation, the business of com- 
merce is concentrating at certain great central points. 
Merchants are eminently gregarious, and always in- 
cline to the principal seats of trade; so that in propor- 
tion as the facilities of passing from place to place 
are increased, they congregate in a common mart of 
trade. The restrictions laid on trade by governments 
generally shut up the chief part of the commerce of each 
country within its own bounds ; so that each country 
will liave one principal seat of trade. Sometimes, 
where countries have been of great extent, they have 
had more than one principal seat of commerce. But 
this could arise only from the difficulty of internal 
intercommunications. In the existing state of things 
our country can have but one commercial emporium 
on the Atlantic sea-board, and no one need be told 
that New -York must be that one. 

^ 338. Whence can the people be gotten^ 

• The most formidable difficulty in the way of real- 
izing these anticipations seems to be in finding so 
large a number of persons to add to our present popu- 
lation. The utmost that could be calculated upon, 
independent of immigration, would be an increase of 
one hundred per cent, in fifty years, leaving more than 
forty millions to be supplied from foreign countries. 
That there will long continue to be large accessions of 

15 



332 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

foreigners to our population, does not admit of doubt, 
but the fountains whence our present streams of immi- 
grants are drawn will be quite exhausted before the 
immense demands made by this calculation can be sat- 
isfied. Though Ireland were left an uninhabited waste, 
and whole duchies and principalities in Germany 
depopulated to give their population to America, still 
the demand would be unsatisfied. We know not what 
revolutions, political or social, may yet arise to send 
the inhabitants of the great kingdoms of Europe by 
millions to our shores ; or by which the countless hosts 
of Asia shall be drawn hither to mingle with our own 
people, and to become incorporated into the social 
mass of our population. There are, no doubt, people 
enough in the world, and enough that could be spared 
from the over-crowded cities and countries of the Old 
World, to afford a million annually for half a century 
to occupy the wastes of America, without diminishing 
at all the strength of their own population. But it is 
not so certain that suck a transfer will be made. 
Yet even this is not now more improbable than was, 
twenty-five years ago, the immense immigration that 
has actually taken place within the few last years. 

§ 339. Natural advantages of New -York. 

Nature has done everything for New -York to ren- 
der it the commercial capital of North America. Its 
harbor is universally confessed to be one of the finest 
on the face of the earth. It is spacious enough to 
give sea-room at once to all the shipping in the world. 
Its depth of water at the wharves is sufficient for the 
largest vessels, and in most of the space within the 
ample area of the bay the largest ship may safely ride 



THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK. 333 

at anchor. The depth of the channel leading through 
the Narrows toward the ocean varies from six to eight 
fathoms ; and upon the bar at Sandy-Hook, at the 
lowest tides, there are four fathoms of water, or more 
than five fathoms at high-water. By the combined 
influences of the climate, the saltness of the water, 
and the strength of the currents setting toward the 
sea, the harbor is almost entirely free from obstruc- 
tions by ice, so that at all seasons of the year vessels 
enter and clear at her port at all times with the same 
facility. 

§ 340. Inland commerce. 
For internal commerce the provisions of nature are 
also abundant. First comes the noble Hudson, pene- 
trating far into the interior of the State, and naviga- 
ble almost its entire length, thus offering a ready 
means of commercial intercourse with all that part of 
the State that lies along or near its banks — all indeed 
that, until the present century, was occupied by white 
men. In the western portion of the State lies the fer- 
tile region of the Genesee — the land of promise to 
agricultural adventurers thirty years since. From 
this fertile region the natural means of transportation 
was originally very imperfect, yet not entirely defi- 
cient. By means of the Mohawk and Oswego Eivers, 
and the lakes, a system of navigation was maintained, 
though with much labor and at great expense of time. 
But though nature had not provided an adequate 
channel of communication with this store-house of her 
products, she had prepared the way for man to pro- 
vide one for himself. From the Hudson to Lake Erie 
was an unbroken extent of level and well-watered sur- 
face, inviting the hand of industry to open, at com- 



334 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

paratively small expense, an artificial channel to con- 
nect these two great highways of commerce. This 
was accomplished more than twenty-five years ago, — 
and hy its completion the Erie Canal irreversihly fixed 
the destiny of New -York as the commercial capital of 
America. 

By means of this canal the entire region of the 
great lakes was at once opened to New -York, and 
every step in the development of the resources of the 
fertile regions that lay along their shores is so much 
added to the resources of that city. By the rapid fill- 
ing up of the great north-west with a thrifty and en- 
terprising population, the business of New -York has 
been greatly augmented; and to this, as a principal 
cause, may be attributed its unprecedented growth 
during the last few years. The want of adaptation 
of canals for rapid transportation, and their liability 
to entire suspension by frost, has been compensated 
for by the construction of railroads, especially that 
which immediately unites the city to the shores of 
Lake Erie. 

By means of these great thoroughfares of trade, the 
whole of the great west has become tributary to the 
commerce of New -York ; and its productions, from as 
far south as Tennessee, seek an avenue to the sea- 
board by the canals and railroads of New -York. The 
current of travel has also been attracted into the same 
channel, as it is now proved that the best route from 
the Atlantic cities, as far south as Washington, to 
the towns on the Ohio and Mississippi — to say nothing 
of those on the great lakes — is by way of the city of 
New -York, and over the railroads of that State to 
Lake Erie. The idea seems indeed poetical, but it is 



THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK, 335 

nevertheless true, that under the operation of these 
causes New -York has become so enriched that she 
may call Ohio her kitchen-garden, Michigan and Wis- 
consin her pastures, and Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, 
her harvest-fields ; and in turn these wealthy and 
flourishing States may claim a proprietorship in New- 
York as their mart of commerce, and the gate through 
which they send out their superabundance, to receive 
in return the riches of foreign countries. 

§ 341. Relations with other cities. 

By reason of this growth of the commerce of New- 
York, those cities that have formerly been her rivals 
are rapidly assuming the relation of auxiliaries and 
dependencies. The equipoise that formerly existed, 
by reason of which the gain of one was, in some sense, 
the loss of the other, has been destroyed, and the 
rivalry has been exchanged for a community of inter- 
ests. In consequence of this the growth of her sister 
cities is the gain of New -York, since from its stores 
must come the supplies upon which their growing pop- 
ulation depends, and through it must go forth those 
productions and fabrics that these cities send forth 
upon the wings of commerce ; and in both the inward 
and outward passage a transit-duty is paid to the 
merchants of New -York. As a commercial nation, 
America has its heart at New -York, and every in- 
crease of the resources of the nation must also be a 
commercial contribution to that city. 

^ 342. New - York as a place of residence. 

As a place of residence, New -York possesses very 
many natural advantages. Its intermediate position 



336 CITY OF NEW-YORK. 

between the rigors of a higher latitude and the ener- 
vating warmth, and exposure to pestilence, of a lower 
one, gives it decided advantages over places consider- 
ably removed either to the north or south of it. It is 
believed that the belt of country lying between the 
thirty-eighth and forty-second degrees of north lati- 
tude is, of all our country, the best adapted to the 
perfect physical development of its inhabitants — and, 
of course, to their mental growth and activity ; and in 
this region New -York occupies a nearly midway posi- 
tion. Though the statistics of mortality may not 
seem at first sight to justify a claim to superior health- 
iness of the climate, a closer examination will quite 
obviate this objection. For a number of years past 
the population of the city has been, to a very consid- 
erable degree, an imported one ; at present nearly 
one-half is of European origin, and even more than 
one-half of the whole population of the city, at this 
time, grew up and formed their physical constitutions 
among influences more or less unlike those of New- 
York. If such bring with them the latent seeds of 
disease, which develop themselves in our city, the 
climate of New -York is not responsible for their pre- 
mature decay. The best test of the salubrity of the 
climate of this place is afforded by the statistics of 
the city of Brooklyn, whose inhabitants are, in a much 
greater ratio, of American extraction, and a very large 
portion of them are natives of New -York city. The 
mortality of Brooklyn, as compared with New -York, 
is only as three to five — a rate that is believed to be 
considerably lower than that of any large city in the 
world. And notwithstanding all these disadvantages 
the ratio of mortality in New -York is very little higher 



THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK. 337 

than in most other American or European cities, and 
actually lower than that of many which are exempt 
from its peculiar incidental disadvantages. 

§ 343. Advantages of the ground-plot. 

For a city whose inhabitants shall he counted by 
millions, the ground-plot of New -York city is decid- 
edly excellent. This could not he said of the city 
while confined to Manhattan Island; which, though 
sufficiently adapted to the purposes of a dense city, 
affords very little variety, and almost absolutely re- 
pels the approach of suburban embellishments. But 
the New -York of the future, while its central seat 
will still be on Manhattan Island, will reach out her 
vast arms and take in the whole western end of Long 
Island, the whole of Staten Island, a vast extent of 
the coast of New-Jersey, and a considerable portion of 
Westchester County beyond Harlem Eiver ; and with- 
in this space is found every variety of surface, soil, 
and physical configuration. Already these places are 
becoming the seats of villages, built by capital from 
the city, and occupied by a teeming population from 
the city, who still continue to spend their hours of 
business in the great metropolis. Here, too, in every 
direction, are springing up the suburban villas of more 
opulent citizens, who seek beyond the din and dust of 
the city proper, the quiet that is there denied them. 
Here, too, are rising a multitude of public institutions — 
charitable, religious, and literary — by all of which the 
recent scenes of rural industry are becoming trans- 
formed into scenes of the animated turmoil of city life. 



338 CITY OF NEW-YOKK. 

§ 344. Character of the future city. 

The New -York of 1900 will probably be a much 
less compactly built city than that which now occu- 
pies the southern extremity of Manhattan Island. 
The overgrown proportions of the city are rapidly 
familiarizing the people with long distances. It is 
now no unusual thing for people to reside three, four, 
or five miles from their places of business, and things 
are arranging themselves to suit this state of affairs. 
Means of conveyance at minimum expenses, both of 
time and money, are coming into extensive use, by 
which the regions round about the city, as far as ten 
miles from the center of business, are brought into 
such intimate union with the city itself as to render 
them suitable and even economical places of residence 
for those who spend their hours of business in the 
densest part of the town. These facilities for travel- 
ing short distances outward and inward are already 
producing marked effects on the suburbs of New- 
York ; and if its population shall continue to increase 
as it has done, there can be no doubt that yet greater 
proportional effects will be produced. Fifty years 
hence a city of cottages with gardens, and villas with 
parks and pleasure-grounds, and clusters of dwellings 
among cultivated fields and miniature groves, will 
cover a circular area of fifty miles diameter, centering 
at the present site of the City Hall. 

§ 345. Conclusion. 

Such is the prospective progress of New -York city, 
as foreshadowed by its past and present. But all such 
calculations are exceedingly liable to many and great 



THE FUTURE OF NEW-YORK. 339 

variations. What the future will be is entirely un- 
known, and all our estimates and calculations are 
little better than plausible conjectures ; yet who can 
say that they are not reasonable ? The same Provi- 
dence that has so wonderfully prospered the city 
hitherto may indefinitely prolong its progress toward 
more advanced greatness, or he may suddenly cast 
down what has thus been built up. But, trusting in 
his continued mercy, we may hope that the day of 
our diminution is far distant. 



THE END. 



BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 
200 Mulberry-street, New- York. 



Curry's Life of TViclif. 

The Life of Rev. Jolin. Wiclif, D. D. Compiled from Authentic Sources. 
By Rev. Daniel, Cueey, A. M. Second thousand. 

18mo., pp. 326. Muslin or sheep $0 40 

Tills work embraces the early history of "glorious John Wiclif;" his contro- 
versy with the mendicant friars ; the affairs of Europe at the time that he 
was at Oxford, (1366;) Wlclifs promotion, persecution, confession of doc- 
tilnes ; the Papal schism ; Wiclif as a preacher ; his translation of the Bi- 
ble ; the Sacramental controversy ; an account of his banishment from Ox- 
ford ; his death, character, opinions, and disciples. 

A very interesting work, presenting a clear, correct, and concise statement 
of the history and doctrines of a man to whom the world Is largely Indebted. 
— Northern Christian Advocate. 

This is a timely and exceedingly interesting volume. The materisils have been 
mostly drawn from the great work of Dr. Vaughan, which is the only com- 
plete history of the John the Baptist of the Reformation. Mr. Curry has per 
formed a good work for the Church, and we hope it will be highly appreci 
ated and amply rewarded. Let the Life of Wiclif be found in all our fami 
lies. — Methodist Quarterly Review. 

Homes Introduction, Abridged. 

A Compendious Introduction to the Study of the Bible, being an Ana- 
lysis of "an Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of 
the Holy Scriptures," in four volumes, by the same author. By Tho- 
mas Hart WELL Hoene. Fifth thousand. 

12mo., pp. 403. Sheep $0 80 

This xcork forms part of the course of study adopted hy the last General 

Conference. 
We recommend this abridgment as a valuable compendium of information 
connected with the interpretation of Scripture. — Wesleyan Magazine. 

Baker s Christian Effort. 

Christian Effort ; or, Facts and Incidents designed to illustrate and en- 
force the duty of Individual Labor for the Salvation of Souls. By 
Saeah Baker. 

ISmo., pp. 271. Muslin $0 40 

Facts and incidents designed to enforce and illustrate the duty to labour for 
the salvation of souls. The various departments of Cluistian effort are here 
set forth, and Christians called on to occupy them with dUigence. — Pres- 
byterian. 



Christian Biography. 



A Library of Christian Biography. Edited by Rev. Thomas Jackson. 
From the London edition. Second thousand. 

Lives of Dr. Watts and Thomas Haliburton, vol. 1. 

Lives of Peard Dickinson and John Janeway, vol. 2. 

Lives of Sir Matthew Hale, J. Alleine, and N. Heywood, vol. 3. 

Lives of Pearce, Shower, Newell, and Mrs. Beaumont, vol. 4. 

Lives of Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Latimer, a^oI. 5. 

18mo., 5 vols., pp. 1513. Muslin or sheep $1 50 

Each volume 36 



BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 
200 Mulberry-street, New- York. 



* m t t 



Smith's Sacred Annals. 

Sacred Annals ; or, Researches into the History and Eeligion of Man- 
kind. 2 vols. 

This work forma part of the course of study adopted hy the last General 

Conference. 
Vol, n. — ^The Hebrew People ; or, the History and Eeligion of the 
Israelites, from the Origin of the Nation to the Time of Christ : de- 
duced from the Writings of Moses and other Inspired Ajithors ; and 
illustrated by Copious References to the Ancient Records, Traditions, 
and Mythology of the Heathen World. By George Smith, F. A. S., 
&c., &c. 

8vo., pp. 616. Sheep $2 00 

Extra half-calf 2 50 

A great book — great in its subject, great in the ability with which it is 
treated. It is weU wortliy of every Christian scholar. — Pittsburgh Chris- 
tian Advocate. 

A production which bears the marks of extensive research and admirable 
impartiality, and which may confidently be recommended to the perusal 
of families as well as of professional students. — New -York Tribune. 

We freely acknowledge our obligation to the author for the information com- 
municated in his pages, and for the modern interest — for lack of a more 
suitable expression — with which he has invested the history of the ancient 
Hebrew people. — New -York Independent. 

It is a valuable acquisition to the literature of Methodism. The work is 
one of great interest ; and, as an accompaniment to the reading of the 
Bible, will be highly prized by the Christian student. — Methodist Protestant. 

Law's Serious Call. 

Serious Call to a Holy Life. By Rev. Willla.m Law, Abridged by Rev. 
John Wesley, A. M. Sixth thousand. 

18mo., pp. 307. Muslin or sheep $0 35 

" In 1727 I read Mr. Law's Serious Call, and more especiaUy resolved to be 
all devoted to God, in body, soul, and spirit ;" and later he speaks of it as 
" a treatise which will hardly be excelled, if it be equalled, in the English 
tongue, either for beauty of expression or for justness and (Jepth of thought." 
— J. Wesley. 

Ryder s Superannuate. 

The Superannuate ; or. Anecdotes, Incidents, and Sketches of the Life 
and Experience of William Ryder, a superannuated Preacher of the 
Troy Conference. Related by Himself. 

18mo., pp. 160. Muslin $0 30 

Young's Inquirer. 

The Inquirer after Salvation affectionately Addressed, By Rev. Robert 
Young. Seventh thousand. 

18mo., pp. 32. Paper covers $0 05 

83^ Aftentiou is particulavly reqiiest(?d to the new Classified and Descriptive Catalogue of Books, 
Tracts, Ac, published by the Methodist Episcopal Church, which can be readily obtained t'r 'Hi 
the Agents, Messrs. Carlton &. Phillips, No. >iOO I\lulberrj'-8treet, New-York, or from Messrs. 
Swornistedt & Poe, comer of Main and Eighth-streets, Cincinnati. 



I 









?v^'^^ 



"-^.^^ ,^I«§f/ 



A 



4 o 



V 



<b' 









• / ■> • 




> 






o 
o 

^ • « O ' ( 











.0^ , 



^ 



^^ 




,-^' 




't^ • • ' 

^ o « o ^ ';;i* 





^ 



V 



\^ 





• -^0^ ^S^^S^^^^^^^ST- 



Treatment Date; 



Aif^v 



* V'A * o / 1/ lJ Cranhom, t^,.,„„u:- „. 



c- o 






C 



.^^ 



, -^^ ^^-^ .%(v^^^4> ^x A^ ^'-:' • < 






.0- 



:^^%^\^* '^ '^ ^. 







. s ^ ^ 



* ,.•" = . *^ 0* 















^ 




M^iVr 



/ 

/ 


°* 






o 

o 




■^ 





s' -J 







LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 222 880 4 



